The Taxi Driver

“You see that restaurant across the street? In about five minutes, a man is going to come out of that restaurant, and I want you to follow him.” The little girl said as she slid into the back seat of my taxi. From the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a thick wad of cash. “I have more than enough money to pay the fare.”

Why did I always find the weird passengers? At least I would have a story to take back to my family and share with them, even though they never believed the stories that I shared with them. This one would be unbelievable, I just knew it.

“There he is!” The little girl exclaimed. The man in question was dressed in a suit with a purple shirt and black tie. His hair was a light blond, just like the little girls. “He’s going to walk to the red Corvette, he’s expecting to be followed so be careful.”

Expecting to be followed? What the hell did that mean? The man did in fact get into the red Corvette and sped off. I was in hot pursuit of him in an instant. I kept two car lengths between us, just enough for him not to be suspicious and more than enough so I could see him. “Are we following your daddy?”

“You could say that.” Her tone was clipped. This small girl was on a mission and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her. I only hoped that I could help her with whatever it is that she was hoping to do. “Listen I’m only 13 and have the weight of the world on my shoulders, I hope you don’t mind if we don’t do the small talk thing.”

“Sure. That’s fine.” The Corvette pulled onto a side street, so I followed suit. I passed the car and went down a block, and stopped. “What do you want me to do now?”

“I’m going to see what I find, there’s an extra few dollars in it for you if you can search his car and bring back anything you find.” She jumped out of the car and made her way to the house that the man had gone into.

After she disappeared from my sight, I went to the red Corvette. I looked in the windows and saw some files just lying on the seat. I gently opened the door and grabbed the files, as well as the cell phone that was on the floor near it. I hit the green button and the screen lit up, I was not surprised to find a picture of the little girl as the screen saver.

I tucked everything under my arms and ran back to my taxi, and found the girl waiting for me. I handed everything to her, and she handed me 3 $20 bills. She glanced through the file and a small smile crept onto her face.

“This is great! Now I need you to follow him again, except this time he is going to drive off in a beat up Toyota. It’ll be a dark green, and he’s going to move fast.” Before she even finished her sentence, the car described was out of the driveway and passing us. I put the cab into drive and once again followed him. The little girl sighed, a sad little sigh. “This can’t be true; erything he told me is true.”

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” I didn’t expect her to answer, or to cry. The tears slipped out of her eyes and down her face slowly at first and then faster.

“My mother really did die in child birth. I killed my own mom; I took her away from my dad and family.” The girl wiped away her tears, but fresh ones appeared. “Can you just take me to this address?”

The girl handed me a piece of paper, and slumped back into the seat crying. I looked at the address and headed towards it. The little girls sobs were too much for me to take, I wanted to console her but wasn’t sure how to.
There was no need because after a few minutes, when I pulled into her subdivision, she composed herself. I pulled up to her house and she jumped out before I could say anything to her. She stopped and peeled off some of her money and handed it to me and whispered “Keep the change.”

I pulled away from the house and turned onto a side street. I drove about a mile before coming to an empty lot, parked at the edge of the lot was the green Toyota Camry. I pulled into the lot and parked next to the car. When I stepped out of the cab, the questioning began. “Did she have you follow me?”

“Yes, she did. She looked in the folder that you left out for me to give her and was devastated to learn that her mother died in child birth.” I looked at the mysterious man, a man that was in my poker game. “She was crying when I dropped her off.”

“Terry will take care of that. One of these days she will accept me as her father and Terry as her step-mom. She just needs time, and all the evidence that I can manufacture.”

“You manufactured that evidence? You aren’t her father?”

“I knew that you would eventually question what was going on. No I am not Ariel’s father in the biological sense, I am her uncle. Her father was a serial killer that killed her mother. I don’t ever want her to know this, I want her, no I need her to believe that I am her father. She must never know the truth.” Like the child, my friend let tears fall down his face. “That’s why I left that stuff on the Corvette and hired you to follow me.”

Like I said, driving a taxi is never boring.