CIUDAD DEL ESTE (Reflection, taken from the web) They say that a taxi driver from New York arrived at the address from which they had requested his services and honked his horn.
After waiting a few minutes, he honked the horn again.
Since this was going to be the last race of his shift, he thought about leaving, but instead, he parked the car and walked to the door and knocked…
“One minute,” answered a fragile old woman’s voice.
The taxi driver heard something crawling through the door.
After a long pause, the door opened.
A petite woman in her 90s was standing in front of the taxi driver.
She was wearing a patterned dress and a hat with a little veil, like someone out of a ’40s movie.
Beside him was a small nylon suitcase.
The apartment looked like it hadn’t been lived in for years.
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 be so kind as to take my suitcase to the car?” he said.
The taxi driver took the suitcase to the taxi and returned to help the old woman.
She grabbed his arm and they slowly walked to the sidewalk.
The old woman did not stop thanking the taxi driver for his kindness.
“It’s nothing,” he told her, “I just try to treat my clients the way I would like them to treat my mother.”
“Oh, you are a good boy,” she said.
When they got into the taxi, she gave him an address and then asked the taxi driver:
“Would you mind taking me downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” the taxi driver quickly replied.
“Oh, I don’t mind,” she said, “I’m in no rush. I’m on my way to a hospice.”
The taxi driver looked in the rearview mirror.
The old woman’s eyes sparkled.
“I have no family left,” he continued in a soft voice. “The doctor says I don’t have much time left.”
The taxi driver slowly reached out and stopped the meter.
“Which route do you want me to take?” he asked.
For the next two hours, they circled the city. She showed the taxi driver the building where years before she had worked as an elevator operator.
They passed through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived as newlyweds.
The old woman made him stop in front of a furniture store that had once been a ballroom where she had danced as a child.
Sometimes the old woman would ask her to slow down in front of a particular building or corner and she would sit staring into the darkness without saying anything.
When the first hint of the sunbeams appeared on the horizon, she suddenly said:
“I’m tired. Let’s go now”.
The taxi driver drove in silence towards the address she had given him.
It was a low building, like a small sanitarium, with a driveway that led under a portico.
Two orderlies got out as soon as they stopped.
They were solicitous and determined, watching her every move.
They must have been waiting for her…
The taxi driver opened the trunk and carried the suitcase to the door.
The woman was already sitting in a wheelchair.
“What do I owe you?” he asked, looking in his purse.
“Nothing,” said the taxi driver.
“Please, you have to earn a living,” she replied.
“There are more customers,” replied the taxi driver.
Almost without thinking, the taxi driver leaned in and gave her a hug.
She hugged him tightly.
“You have given an old woman a little moment of joy,” she said. “Thank you”.
The taxi driver walked into the dim morning light…
Behind him a door closed.
It was the sound of the closure of a life.
The taxi driver did not pick up any more customers that shift.
He drove aimlessly, deep in thought. For the rest of that day, he could barely speak.
What would have happened if that lady had been touched by a furious or impatient taxi driver to finish the shift?
What would have happened if he had refused to do the race or if he had only honked once and drove off?
Then he thought that he had done nothing more important than that in his life.
We are conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But big moments often catch us off guard and by surprise, beautifully wrapped up in what other people would consider a minor moment.
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