It was about 3:00 am on a Friday night/Saturday morning. I was calling it a night. I had made some decent money taking the drunk, over-the-mountain kids home from Lakeview. I stopped by the little 24 hour grocery store on Highland Avenue to get a few things we needed at home. I saw a kind of odd looking couple standing outside near the door, one of them approached the car. He was very clean-cut, a little nerdy looking, kind of geeky. He wasn’t one that would set off my gaydar. His companion was a drag queen. Obviously male but adorned with lipstick, make-up and feminine jewelry. Her bleached blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She wasn’t wearing a dress but her tight fitting jeans gave way to a pair of women’s pumps which exposed her red painted toenails. I assumed the two were lovers. The straight looking one said “we’re stranded, can you take us home?” I told him that I had a few items to get first but I could then take them home.
They told me to go toward Eastwood Walmart on Montclair Road. They said they live a little beyond there. They fretted about money throughout the entire trip. They were both going through their pockets collecting and counting money. When we got just beyond the Walmart the straight looking one said “OK, put us out”. I pulled over and asked if we were near where they lived. The drag queen said ” it’s another couple of miles but we can walk”. The other one said “thirteen dollars is all we have.” I looked at the meter and it was sitting on $13. I told them not to worry about it. I said just pay me what you have and I’ll get you home. I wouldn’t do this for anybody but these guys hadn’t been any trouble and they hadn’t tried to take advantage of me. They gave me directions to the very same extended stay inn where my wife and I had lived when we first moved to Birmingham. The straight acting one made a phone call just as we pulled up in front of the room to let their mother know that he and his brother were home.
copyright 2013 R.W. Walker
*All views and opinions are strictly those of R.W. Walker. These views do not reflect the views of any cab company.
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