Sway With Me

It's not the trains that turn me to the late night Arabs. It's the thought of dealing with the 3 AM scum that does it for me; the thought of having to sift through my own free thinking just to find a distraction. I'd rather turn to the Arabs than bother with trains. So I do.

I've lived here a long time, and I frequently find myself in the back seat. The driver drives, the meter ticks, and I sit back and go home. They're all pretty simple, except this one:

"Party cab, jump in my friend!" I didn't say anything. I was in no mood. "Where you going my friend?" He sounded so excited, like he hadn't had a fare all night.

"96 and Columbus."

"Right away!" He sized me up in the rearview mirror, making sure I wasn't going to rip him off. "This is happy cab. No problems here. I wish you good health, and happiness! Live good life! No stress!"

"Ha, I wish it were that easy."

"My friend, you must try! Not just think."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot." I threw on a fake smile. He read right through it.

"You are in love!"

"... are you asking me?"

"No! You are! I can see! In eyes!"

"Hmm.. I might be, I don't know yet."

"Ah, you do know, you don't want to know, but you are!"

"Haha! Yea man, I am."

"So then no stress! No trouble! Happy cab!" He turned the stereo up. It turns out Phil Collins has a way with awkward situations. He glanced back every now and again, making sure I had that plastic smile glued on well enough. Sure as shit it was there. 

"My friend, you are in love and you are scared, yes?"

"It's complicated."

"No! No complicates! Philip Collin will help!" and he turned the stereo back up. The cabbie knew me better than I was comfortable with. He called me out on all my fears and questioned their integrity. He proved me wrong on all accounts, and forced me to rethink everything I thought I knew; everything I wanted to be true. I just have to turn to the Arabs.

The glare ripped through the camera lens and shattered the capturing eye. It tore the mechanics and machines in half and fired right back out, but the shot still came out. And just like that, this tree was made eternal.