My cab ride home yesterday

Delaware’s hottest blogger is on crutches and was in need of a ride home yesterday.  So I solicited a cab.  Too many women at the office were fighting over who wanted to take me home.  I have always felt that there is a enough Donviti to go around and still feel that way.  Even on crutches, I still am a lot more to handle than any 2 legged geek could ever be.  I needed a ride home and couldn’t wait until the half dozen bombshells pulled themselves apart trying to get me into their car.  It didn’t feel right what I had caused and I had learned in the past that when there are women fighting over me (and a few men) it is better to walk (in this case crutch) away quietly. 

I will say on a side note, that being on crutches has shed light on just how difficult it must be for handicapped people to get in and out of buildings and even around this state in general.  Let alone in the city of Wilmington.  Parking in the city is horrible as it is, but being handicapped and having to park even in a parking garage is something bordering on the impossible.  I have never been one to bitch at people that are handicapped that could work and being on crutches for 4 weeks with 4 weeks to go, I now feel the pain of a small percentage of Americans.  I don’t envy them.  (yet one more reason Ladies that as Delaware’s Hottest Blogger I am the epitomy of a ladies man, I understand people’s plight, I feel their pain as my pain, I listen to them, hear them, feel them) The building I work in is home to Mr. McCastle and I am pretty ashamed at the lack of handicapped accomadations the building has.  You would think that a building where a prominent, steaming piece of waste like Castle works would be a little more accomodating to people like myself.  Being hot and on crutches is very trying I must say and Mr Castle being stroke ridden should be more inclined to go out of his way to get the building beyond the minimum requirements.

I had to crutch my way about 3o0 yards to the train station where the cabs were.  Not easy by any means.  2 things came out my cab ride that I was quite surprised by.  One was the cab driver himself.  He has been in the US for 24 years and was from a country in Africa I didn’t catch and didn’t want to ask for again only because I didn’t think I was going to have too much of a conversation with him to need to know it.  So after the normal exchange of pleasantries, we sat quietly for about 5 more minutes.  I had a five mile journey home and he asked me at about mile 2, “Who do you think is going to win tonight?”

Now prior to this he had told me he broke his foot too, playing soccer back home.  So I wasn’t sure what game he was talking about.  I know soccer is normally over by 5pm, soccer that matters to anyone in this country at least.  I didn’t think the NBA playoffs were on, b/c I watch almost all the games this time of year.  I said, I wasn’t sure who was playing.  He said, “No, I mean the election tonight.” in his heavy accent. 

I was pretty stunned and I said that I hoped Obama would win.  I sensed he was a little relieved at my answer.  I said how I felt he would be great for this country and unite us.  He agreed and said it would be good for everyone all over.  We could be brought together, we need to be brought together he said.  This country is so divided he said.  He then said something that shocked me and maybe because he was an African American (which you will rarely see me say because not all freaking black people are African) it stunned me a little more b/c as of yesterday, I had never heard it said from a black person. 

He said if he wins, “they are going to have a bullet ready for him”  He went on to tell me how a person called for a cab ride some years ago and after speaking with him, asked if he was black.  He said yes, the person said I don’t want a black person to pick me up and hung up.  This was in Delaware mind you….He went on to profess how “they” will shoot him and how “they” will want him dead as well as how “they” are afraid of him and what he can do. 

I find it stunning that this would be a thought in the year 2008, a legitimate thought in this persons mind, but I guess when you have agents of change, especially Black agents of change, this country in the end has some real racial issues that would cause people to actually believe that it could still happen.  It is sad that someone truly believes this in our country too. 

The other stunning thing you ask?  The bill.  Take a guess at how much it costs to go five miles by cab these days?  I will tell you tonight around 6pm.  Just another sign of the times and how hard it is for people without transportation to get around in this state.