Cab driver experienced the greatest joy in helping a very old woman

He was one of those cab drivers who roamed the city at night to find passengers. One night, he took an old woman for his passenger before he ended his shift. He arrived at the address and honked the horn and after a few minutes, honked again.

When nobody went out, he initially thought of just leaving but since it was going to be his last ride for the shift he just parked the car and knocked on the apartment’s door instead.

‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. He also heard something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90’s stood before the cab driver. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940’s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she asked the driver. Without saying anything, the man took the suitcase and brought it to the car, then hurried back to assist the elderly woman.

The old woman thanked him for helping. ‘It’s nothing’, he said. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’

‘Oh, you’re such a good boy,’ she said. When they got into the cab, the woman gave him an address but asked to drive her through downtown instead. Knowing that it would make the ride long, he said, ‘It’s not the shortest way.’

‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.’

The man looked at his passenger in the rear-view mirror and noticed that her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft voice. ‘The doctor says I don’t have very long.’

Without saying anything, the cab driver reached over and shut off the meter. ‘What route would you like me to take?’ he asked.

For the next two hours, they drove through the city. She showed him the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. They also drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had him pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she would ask him to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sunlight, the old woman suddenly said, ‘I’m tired. Let’s go now.’

He finally drove the woman to the address she gave him. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. He saw two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as they pulled up, like they were expecting her.

He opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door and saw that the woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked him, reaching into her purse.

‘Nothing,’ the cab driver said.

‘You have to make a living,’ she answered.

‘There are other passengers,’ he responded.

Without even thinking, the cab driver bent and gave the old lady a hug.

‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’

He squeezed her hand, and then turned back and walked into the dim morning light. Behind him, he heard a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a well-lived life.

The cab driver didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. He drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, he could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if he had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

It was one cab ride he will never ever forget, because it made him realize the important things in life. True enough, great moments often catch us unaware – beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

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