ticket to (not) ride

6:30 bus from New York to DC. Third row - right side of the bus - window seat. I used the overhead compartment. I'm aboard the "Pirate Ship," a nickname designated to my vessel by the Peter Pan Bus company.

Seatmate was a quiet man who enjoys sleeping and staring at his hands. Child in the seat in front of me -- so quiet I didn't know he was there until I saw his reflection in the window, and we were near Baltimore by then. The ideal Greyhound child.

I watched two Netflix - Freaks and The Green Butchers. Watched the pilot episode of Picket Fences. Studied.
Ride was fast, uneventful, and quiet.
Rainy, but fast. No rest stops, and that's the way I like it.

I wanted to take a cab from the bus station in DC to my destination.
The cab drivers usually gather outside the doors, and solicit for rides. Bother you about rides, ask where you are going even if you don't want a cab, demand to know where you live.

Not this time. Not this night. Not so easy.

Two cab drivers pull up and ask me where I am going. I tell them, and they respond by shaking their heads. No. No. No, they will not drive me. Another cab driver didn't respond, but didn't drive away. I take that as a "Get in. " I walk to the car...and he pulls away. Fairway Cab Association...I'll remember. I hold grudges.

One cab driver said yes, and then went to find MORE people to drive, and that annoyed me. I waited over 5 minutes for him to come back. He found no other eligible passengers. He'd take me "anyway." I told him that I would wait for another cab, he seemed shocked. Riders have dignity, sir. I don't want to be your last-choice passenger.

Eventually I got a cab with two other people. $7.50 plus tip.

-l