Paradise Driver: HAVEN'T WE HAD...

Friday, June 30, 2006

HAVEN'T WE HAD...

...THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE?

~ Mike & Marni ~

I picked up Mike & Marni at FoodLand during the early hours of the shift. They leave today for El Lay. About halfway through the trip Mike realized that I was their cabbie from their last visit, two years ago. Talking about my prior life triggered his memory. His dad is a Captain on the Boston (MA, USA) Police Department.

Its nice to be remembered.

TROUBLE SPOTS

Almost any community in the world has sections that most people would refer to as a ghetto. Kihei follows the trend. But our "financially stressed zones" are delineated by individual streets or cul-de-sacs, not entire neighborhoods. Since homes in these spots range in value from $850,000 to $1.1 million it is really hard to use the word "ghetto".

Almost exactly at midnight I responded to a MPD call on one of those cul-de-sacs. Seems there had been an extremely loud domestic disturbance and the residents of the home wanted their guests from the mainland removed. Somebody said something that someone else took exception to and then their emotional bombs went off. Blaring out to the entertainment of the neighborhood.

Pulled up next to the two MPD patrol cars and ejectee #1 (mid-40s) yelled at me, from the front porch, to get her bags from the porch and put them in the trunk of ONE-NINE. I looked up the steep drive at the wooden porch, 10 feet above the drive.

No way, Jose.

"No. You bring the bags down here and I will load them in the trunk"

The cop's heads snapped around and she went dead silent. I don't schlep luggage.

She started a ranting mumble and grabbed the first bag, followed down the drive by her daughter (9 to 11-ish), ejectee #2, and grandma, ejectee #3.

Got them loaded and asked for our destination. After listening to about 5 seconds of her foaming mouth response, I got the info from one of the cops. Destination: Maui Coast Hotel

About 1 minute into the ride, listening to her erupt venom, I bluntly, but very softly, told #1 that if it wasn't for this being a MPD call, this ride would have ended by now. That set her off again, without the mumbles this time. When she paused for breath I interjected,

"Ma'am. I strongly suggest that you sit back and be quiet. One more outburst and I will dump you on the side of the road, lost, and take your daughter and mother on to the hotel. I am very, very serious. Your choice."

"GRUMP... HURRUMP..."

I'll give her credit. She immediately began making verbal plans with the others about what was needed to be done to get off the island today. She might have a chance. Long Fourth of July weekend means all flights full coming in but nearly empty going out.

I barely missed breaking out in laughter when she spoke of her little home, back in the trailer park in either Texas or Alabama.

Oh, God! A stereo-type!

Grandma paid the fare ($21.00) and tipped me $5. Surprised me, too.

The daughter was a sweetheart. Stayed very calm. Told her mom to "shut up", after my admonition. During a stop at an ATM she said,

"My mom gets real...uh....uh....uh..."
"Are you looking for the word 'hyper'?"
"Yeah! She tends to get real hyper. Thats a good word."

Smart kid.

WORLD CUP

A 1:30am pu-pu run from the 4-Seasons to Wailea Elua Village, brought me in contact with a nice "30-sumptin'" guy. He is very much into the world's most popular sport. Since my complete knowledge of the game is based on watching the last 8 minutes of the recent Austalia vs Italy match and from comments on some of the other cab-blogs, I was able to at least ask a few intelligent sounding questions. From what he said, and from other sources, I guess that Brazil is the dominant team this year.

SPAM ALERT

Do to some complaints, PARADISE DRIVER was placed under "spam alert" by blogger. It was removed yesterday and I received the following e-mail from them:

Blogger Help
to me
More options Jun 29(22 hours ago)

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam.

If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal.

Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

So, if anyone is still having "pop-up" problems, It ain't from here.

LAST NIGHT

Basically a decent shift. No out-of-town runs, but I managed to rack up 15 trips on 125 miles (201 km). Made money. Got home safely.