** ** ****
** ** *The Last Cab Ride***** ** ** ** ** *I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift, I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.***** ** ** ** ** *'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice.***** ** ** ** ** *I could hear something being dragged across the floor.***** ** ** ** ** *After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.***** *By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.***** *There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.***** *Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she asked.***** *I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.***** *She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'*** ** *'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'***** *'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.***** *'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a***** *hospice.***** *I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. ***** *'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.***** *For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.***** *We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.***** *Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and she would sit, staring into the darkness, saying nothing.* **** *As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'.***** *We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.***** *Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.***** *'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.***** *'Nothing,' I said.***** *'You have to make a living,' she answered.***** *'There are other passengers,' I responded.***** *Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.***** *'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'***** *I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.***** *I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.***** *What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?***** *On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.***** *We are conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.*** ** *But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.***** *PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL**.***** *At the bottom of this great story was a request to forward this - I deleted that request because if you have read to this point, you won't have to be asked to pass it along, you just will...***** *Thank you, my friend...***** *Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.***** ** ** ------- End of forwarded message -------**** ** ** ** ** ** ** __._,_.___ __,_._,___ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
