Going Nowhere.

I was sitting in the cab, downtown in front of the Hotel Pere Marquette. There are three parking spots there on Main Street that we're supposed to occupy when we're free...if they aren't already taken by three of the dozen other cabs downtown.

A haggard blond sort of fell into the back seat and took a few minutes to decide where she wanted to go. Her eyes were glossy, and distant...her face tough. There was a bit of padding beneath her gray sweatshirt, but she wasn't exactly fat.

"You got money?" I asked.
"Yeah, I got money...just have to see how much," she said, gaining limited composure.

It looked like nine dollars. Not enough to reach her first stated destination in East Peoria. I didn't think it would be enough to get her near Northwoods Mall either.

"No," Grant cracked in over the mic.
"Well, you heard him. Grant's the man."

After a two minute delay, she got out and tried Jay's cab, parked directly in front of mine. We're with the same company so he heard the entire conversation over the radio. Immediately after she sat down, he opened the door for her and she was back on the street.

False Flag.

I was driving up North St, on my way to make a pick-up when a skinny black kid in a dark, puffy, winter coat tried to wave me down. He couldn't have been much older than thirteen. I slowed to about twenty but motioned that I had to continue on my current course.

"Sorry," I lipped, before he lost his straight face and wide, desperate eyes. He laughed with the five or six girls of various sizes standing around him. He never really needed a cab, but I wasn't really sorry.