A Moment of Joy

A Moment of Joy
　　What I did not realize was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a moving confessional. Passengers climbed in, sat behind me in total anonymityDisinfectants drying oven Nike sneakers china glasses prada bags, and told me about their lives. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and weep.But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night.
　　I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some people who had been partyingglasses frames eyeglass frames School furniture Plastic toys cocktail shaker, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a worker heading to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town.
　　When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under such circumstances, many drivers just honk once or twice, wait a minutefire pit Energy Saving Lamp Supplier Oil painting metal sunglasses sweetie bracelet, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transpor- tation.Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door.
　　This passenger might be someone who needs my assistancesweetie bracelet links of london charms links london links of london links london, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on itlinks of london ed hardy clothing links of london bracelet FOOTBALL JERSEYS links of london sweetie bracelet, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase.
The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for yearslinks of london charms links london links of london ed clothing wholesale jeans. 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 said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm, and we walked slowly toward the curb.She kept thanking me for my kindnesslink of london clothes mens ed hardy women's ed hardy jeans ed jeans. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.” “Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said.
　　When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then askedmen's clothes men clothes women clothing shoes links of london bracelet women clothes, “Can you drive through downtown?” “It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly. “Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.” I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. “I don’t have any family leftlink of london womens designer shoes women fashion shoes clothes womens fashion shoes,” she continued. “The doctor says I don’t have very long.”I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. “What route would you like me to take?” I asked.
　　For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operatorwomen fashion STEELER JERSEYS ed hardy hoodies men shoes fashion ed glasses. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.