23 December 2004 Morning
- Journey to Johannesburg International Airport
This had to be one of the most interesting journey to the airport I have ever experienced. I had engaged the service of Corporate Cab to send me to the airport and boy oh boy, I really felt like I was part of the Jerry Springer Show.
Cabbie (C) : “Is that your car?”
Me : “Errr… ya?”
C : “Nice car” (turned his head back to stare for a while).
(Discomfort) Me : “Hang on. Need to speak to security guard”
I got out of car and whispered to security guard, “Listen… I’m going away again. Please make sure that if anyone comes look for me, DO NOT let them through.”
He nodded. I got back into the car and we headed off for JNB Airport.
C : “So what company do you work for?”
Me : “Errr….”
C : “ What is it that you do?”
Me : “Err…. Something small. Nothing interesting”
Cab driver guffaws.
C : “What you mean nothing interesting? How can it not be interesting?”
Me : “That’s the way it is. Nothing interesting.”
C : “Some private.”
Me : “Yeah.”
C : “What can be so private?”
Me : “My life can be private.”
Cab Driver laughs again. Uncomfortable silence. So to break the ice...
Me : “So how long have you been doing this?”
C : “We started the business 18 months ago and I’ve been doing it since then.”
Me : “Right…. And before that?”
C : “I was doing insurance. I was working in Sanlam.”
Me : “I see…”
Mindless chats. To keep the conversation going….
Me : “So do you have any kids?”
C : “Yes. I have one kid.”
Me : “Girl? Boy?”
C : “Boy. He is 13 this year. I am a divorcee.”
(Laughs) Me : “Everyone’s divorced these days. So what happened?”
C : “She was f***ing another man. The other man was my best friend. No one told me, man. I found out myself. Came home one day and saw her f***ing my best friend. I took out my gun. Wanted to shoot them. But then I thought to myself why should I? If I kill them, I will end up behind bars.”
Stunned, I let out a disconcerting laugh.
Me : “Sounds like a script off Jerry Springer.”
C : “Yeah. Imagine that. Coming home and seeing your wife f***ing your best friend.”
Me : “Yah…. So I guess you aren’t friends with that best friend anymore?”
C : “No man! He is now my enemy – enemy #1.”
Me : “Ok…….”
C : “I am over it now… in here (puts fist on heart). But you know, I am trying not to hate. It is so difficult though.”
Me : “Well, we humans are made to lead life based a lot on emotions. Love and marriage, marriage and love. When something like that happens, the love coin flips and becomes hate. What happened to you is betrayal.”
C : “Yeah. But there are people who just hate for no reason.”
Me : “They are just sadistic. That’s another story all together.”
C : “You know… after my divorce, I didn’t have a woman for 18 months.”
Me : “Right….”
C : “Yeah. And then I was with this girl. She’s an Afrikaans ya know. We got on very well, nothing was wrong…. Everything was perfect…. Until I went to meet her parents. Ya know, they couldn’t accept it. How could she be with me? A black guy? And how could she be with someone who was exiled before…. They couldn’t take it. No, they couldn’t take it.”
Me : “Exiled?”
C : “Yeah. I was exiled for 9 years.”
Me : “For what?”
C : “ The civil rights movement man. I was standing march against the civil rights movements. I was with the AMC and all….. “
Me : “Errrr….. so what was life like in prison?”
C : “Terrible man. Life in the was… oh... tough.”
Me (too stunned) : "OK...."
I can't remember the rest of the conversation as I had typed all of these out on the day itself but never got around to finishing the story. We spoke abit about township life (the term "township" refers to the where the Blacks lived during the apartheid times) as well but not much as we had arrived at the airport.
C : "So... you still have not told me what you do."
Me : "I deal with jeans manufacturing."
C : "So can you give me some jeans?"
Me : "I knew this was coming up!"
Cabbie laughs. I rolled my eyes and walked away. Typical. There is no one Black person (apart from my buyers) I have spoken to who have not tried this cheap shot of getting free jeans from me.
Double Roll of Eyes.
This conversation with Mr Cabbie got me stunned for a while, until I got to the check-in counter. That is another story all together....
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