The quickest way to self-destruct is to give up on life and take no action regarding your prospects. That does not mean you will always be feeling despondent and indolent. Situations arise where responsibility forces you to forfeit and take the bull by its horns as much as you may not want to. The experiences we encounter are many and it is the most recent epic episode that remains in our mind that we keep on narrating. It ends up being a tedious story that is banal and lackluster. Once you realize that what you are saying sounds cliche and the listener has an idea of what you will say next, then it makes sense to cut it.
Uber drivers have so many stories to tell if you engage them. Chaps like us do not know how to break the ice and I wait for the man behind the wheels to look at me and start a conversation. One cab driver who used to ply his trade at night used to harangue at the plight of the country's state and had an idea of just everything. Those were the days when online hailing cabs were not available at our arms disposal. The man would be high on khat and it made him talk as if the words he was narrating were having no end.
The bottom line is that if you engage a person, there is a possibility he will recount a certain hackneyed story that he normally repeats to his audience because it is what makes sense. The reason I love cabs is because there is never the same story you will experience with the same driver. What some of these drivers have seen, what they have heard, the scents and odors they have had to endure. They have a view of the past, present, and future. This may not be fixed into a shape when you look at it. But the signal from perceiving life through the three dimensions is a triangle of sorts.
A cab driver once told me that he used to work as a bike rider in one of the Arabian countries and ended up learning Arabic. The job was lucrative but he felt like the environment was not conducive to his stay because when it became excessively hot, he could not do errands he wanted to do. His eyes were now set on going to Eastern Europe to be a truck driver then slowly finding his way to the heart of mainland Europe.
Another recently told me that he has since accepted that sex will still take place in your cab whether you like it or not. Especially when you work at night when revelers are from having fun at night. He said that there are men who get inebriated at night and will offer you good pay to have the act with a lady in your car as you drive along. Some just do it because they are horny and some ladies even seduce you but you have to maintain that you are in business. The majority of ladies he took to destinations where an imposing SUV was waiting on the other end were girls in their early twenties or late teenage years. The ones who want a fast life. A man promises to give her twenty bob, (bob is slang for a thousand), and she is ready to do everything for the few hours they will be together.
She took a broken wine glass and started cutting her left arm deep enough to see white tissue and the skin separated. A stream of blood started flowing from her slit arm to the table and then down onto the floor. She had soft hands that looked tender and light in complexion. The people around looked with their faces blanched from shock. People will look at you harming yourself and do nothing. Standing in front of her, I took hold of the hand that held the broken glass before she good do any more harm because the scene was covered in blood.
Bouncers were called to come and contain her because she was nervous and restless. She was a petite university student who seemed to fear what the future held. She kept on insisting that someone should hold her hand and when she had no one do that, she reached the broken glass and started harming herself with stabs that gorged deep. Only when blood started flowing did I realize that she saw what she had done that I managed to also come to my senses and forcibly prevent her from further self-inflicted injury. After the act, her voice was low and hoarse with exhaustion. The blood looked red on the floor and table. We moved to another table. What a night to behold.
