Abbey The Cabby — Chapter 2

It was a gloomy, rainy night in Charm City. The fog cast a pall over the shiny streets that were slicked with falling leaves and mist. The night was mild, but the smell of autumn hung in the air. The big wheels of the Plymouth Road King bounced over the rough streets as Abbey found herself, again, out on the mean streets late at night. But, she had done that beat before. But that was in another time, another life, not so long ago.

Her mind wandered as she drove her cab, picking up strangers, and taking them to wherever. She knew the city well. She had to. “401 Calvert, Please.” the lady in the fancy violet dress said, as she and another woman got into her back seat, folding their wet umbrellas. They were chuckling and having a conversation in semi-whispers. Abbey saw their cute cloche hats silhouetted against the headlights through the back window. They seemed to be sitting very close.

Abbey was intrigued. “Were they…? Are those two…?” She pressed a finger to her lips as she watched the two hats draw closer. A flash of light passed at just the right time and she saw the lady in the violet dress touch the other’s face in a loving way. “What was going on back there?” Abbey wondered. She almost missed a turn trying to steal another peek. “Sorry!” Abbey apologized. But the girls just giggled and whisper-talked.

“401 Calvert, here we are ladies! Watch your step out the doors and thank you for riding Yellow Cab!” Abbey announced with the same spiel she must have given 10,000 times. The lady in the violet dress handed Abbey a $10 bill and put her satin-gloved hand on top of hers, caressing ever so slightly as she pulled her hand away. “Thanks Hon!” she said in a husky, smokey tone that smelled like cigarettes and fancy drinks. “Thank YOU!” Abbey exclaimed, her eyes widening at her windfall. That made Abbey’s whole night. She’d be lucky to get a 25-cent piece usually. It was going to be a good week, Abbey thought, still intrigued by the two women passengers.

Abbey’s Row-house. Third from the left.

Abbey lived in the kind of place you’d expect a single women who drove a taxi to live. In the city, renting a floor of a row-house. Her landlord had recently divided up the home into apartments. She had two cats, one all black and one white with a black tail and a black patch over his eye.  They were siblings, one female and one male. They were her babies, the only ones that she had, or ever had. Their love was seemingly unconditional, provided she kept the food coming, of course.

She threw off her clothes into a heap and just wanted to dive into bed. It was so late, it was early. The sun was rising and people were starting to go to work. The sun gleamed off of the windows of the hospital she lived near as the red bricks glowed like a fire in the dawn’s early light. The days were growing shorter. Abbey hoped that she would see the sun tomorrow…or later that day. But sleep called and her comfy bed beckoned.

Abbey found herself running through a sea of wildflowers, laughing with the other children around. The sun was sinking and the magical beams backlit the pollen and fuzzy things coming off of the flora. Abbey felt free, she looked down at her yellow dress, puffed out by a petticoat. There was lace at the fringes that matched her knee socks. She felt her hair up in bows, bouncing as she ran through the field with the others. The sun got brighter and brighter and she started to squint as the other children started to surround her. The heat was getting uncomfortable as the light started became blinding. The children’s faces turned dark and they all said in unison, “GO, GO AWAY! YOU DON’T BELONG HERE.” They started to close in on her and she was so frightened at their darkening faces that were fast becoming dark holes. Abbey screamed as the children faded and she was looking at the sunlight from an open curtain in her bedroom. She was sweating and breathing hard. “Oh my God,” she said as she covered her face.

She had been having nightmares for years now, 7 years to be exact. It will be 8 soon enough. She shook it off and petted Coal and Quartzie as they lazily blinked at her, being woken up by her half-scream. They had heard Mom have bad dreams before. They meowed, and came to her as if to say, “It’s OK Mom, I am here to comfort you.” She loved her “babies.” The column of light felt warm and inviting on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon. But it was not the sunrise she was seeing, but the sunset. She lamented another daytime that had passed while she slept.  She was a nightowl.

Abbey hated her morning routine. She stared at her face in the mirror. She felt it and winced. “Fuck!” she spouted. Gathering herself, she sighed, and went about her womanly “duties” to beautify. “It’s all part of the game,” she thought, this game she hated playing. Why did she have to be different? It had basically ruined her life, or at least played a part. She drove a cab for a living. She longed for the old days, the days of walking the beat and taking down baddies. THAT seemed like a dream now. It had been a long time.

She thought about the lady in the violet dress again and the other lady that she was with. A chilly tingle ran down her spine as she stared into space. He mind’s eye saw those two cloche hats backlit by the lights, getting closer, the giggling in the darkness and that flash of light of the hand on the cheek. She shook her head and looked at her ticking clock on the wall. “Shit!” she said. It was getting late. She was procrastinating again. It was time to go out and hit the streets driving for Yellow Cab. She needed to keep her food, shelter and clothing, as tattered as it was. The bills didn’t stop. She threw on a comfy, navy dress, pulled her hair back and buckled her worn, black Mary Jane’s. Time to hit the streets in the Road King.

As she picked up strangers, her mind wondered, “Why do I have to be this way? Why can’t I be normal? What the hell was normal anyway?” The big Road King tires took the rough roads of Charm City like a champ. It looked like another rainy night in store. Then she saw it.

A man in a long coat and a gray Scally cap on the sidewalk grabbed a lady’s purse and took off. The lady screamed and pointed. Abbey didn’t hesitate. She hastily pulled the Yellow Cab over, sprang out the door and sprinted toward the purp. He heart was pounding with both excitement and fear. She was running on instinct. Thank God she wore her trusty Mary Jane’s and not heels. The man looked back at Abbey and tried to run faster. People were enthralled outside the theater as they saw this purse-snatcher being pursued by a woman cab driver. A couple of men tried to grab Abbey’s arm to stop her but she strongly pulled away, surprising the men. “Hey baby, he’s not worth it! You are going to get hurt!” they said. But Abbey had a determined look on her face as she gained on the filthy perp. The man looked back one last time. He seemed surprised that Abbey was so close. She saw his dark, bushy eyebrows and two day beard lit by the passing headlights. Abbey dove and tackled the man as the green, shiny purse went flying out in front of him.

The man went down hard and was scraped from chin to knee. Abbey put a knee in his back and unconsciously reached for her belt. The handcuffs that her instincts reached for were not there. The man was yelling in pain as some men caught up to the scene. A policeman across the street was racing over to help too. Soon, the man was up and in in cuffs. He looked at Abbey in bewilderment and kept looking back between winces of pain as the cop dragged him away. “Oooookaaaay, off you goooo now.” Said the cop to the perp.

People stared at Abbey, dumbfounded, as if she were superhuman. Abbey was huffing and puffing and her cheeks were red. She looked down at her dress, which was now even more tattered. “Are you alright Miss?” asked a man, putting a hand on Abbey’s shoulder. Abbey quivered a bit but puffed out a “Ye-yeah…” “That was incredibly brave!” the amazed man said. “Did they get the purse? Did the lady…?” Abbey asked. “Yes, Oh yes, the lady got her purse,” said the man. “Good.” huffed Abbey.    

Abbey felt so alive and tingly. Her adrenaline was sky high. She knew she had to calm. A man in a fedora and a checkered bowtie approached her as she walked back to her cab, still out of breath. “ Ma’am…Hi…I was wondering how you chased down that man.” “It was just instinct. I saw the lady get her purse nabbed and I sprung into action,” she said. “Well lady, THAT was incredible! Are you a cab driver? What is your name Ma’am?”

“Abbey…” she said. “Abbey the Cabbie, I guess.” she chuckled.

Next month, Chapter 3.

Tags: featured, fiction, TG noir, Transgender

Category: Fiction