“I don’t quite have cash.”
“That’s fine.”
And that is how I found my way home – in the backseat of a cab. 4.52 am.
“Did you just get back from fishing?”
“No, softball.”
A frown formed in the rearview mirror.
“It’s like baseball.”
The nod was barely visible, but I couldn’t be sure if that was just in my head.
“I just had a tournament”, I tried to explain my sudden appearance on the roadside at such an unearthly hour, “it was a 24 hour tournament”.
The frown returned, along with a stream of health information – he could have been lecturing his own rebellious son.
“No good ever comes from lack of sleep…”
“I think so too.”
Awkward silence.
“I hope the system works”. Points to a warning prompt on his LCD screen.
“I hope so too. No cash remember”
“You know, you could try running off without paying”
Amusing.
“And you wouldn’t mind?”
“Oh it happens all the time. That’s why I keep a hockey stick handy”
Silence.
“Why a hockey stick?”
“So that you can hook somebody, and punch him when in close proximity.”
“Why do you have a hockey stick?”
“We cabbies often get robbed.”
“How about the police?”
“No point there. Every robbery probably loses us a hundred bucks. The police wouldn’t care.”
“But it’s Singapore”
“Yeah.”
“How about a badminton racket?”
“That wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
“A bat like this?” I pointed to my gear.
“Don’t have that. Some of my friends, they recommend carrying an umbrella”
“How about that, then?”
“Useless. I couldn’t be so accurate as to poke the eye of a fare evader.”
That line threw me into deep thought. This guy was something else.
He really was.