Friday, March 10, 2006

Woes Of A Taxi Driver



As Ah Chai cruised on along the Orchard Road stretch, he noticed throngs of poeople. Old and young ones are chattering away about their last minute shopping. It is Christmas Eve and the streets are paved with vibrant colours and dazzling lights.


As he neared the LIDO building, two well dressed young men flagged frantically for a taxi. "Just perfect", Ah Chai thought to himself for he was all too lazy to enter one of those languid taxi queues.

Ah Chai greeted them without faking a smile like some cabbies do. They seemed in a rush and did not return the favour. They just requested to be driven to Zouk the fastest way possible. Ah Chai took them the longer way but the two idiots remained oblivious as they were buried in an intense conversation.

Conversations about whether or not the ratio of chicks to dicks that night is going to work in their favour. Conversations about whether or not they should hook one up early and go for the kill. They even discussed which hotel they were going to should they get lucky.

They seemed confidant of scoring that night. Ah Chai just pondered whether or not his 19 year old daughter is frequenting such places. She seems to dress up raunchily since she entered the polytechnic. Somehow her results always remained above average and so both Ah Chai and his wife just protested in silence.

As Ah Chai brought his taxi to a halt, the two young men in the rear are looking frantically at the people lining up. It seems as though they are scouting for their potential prey. At the same time, one of them digged into his jeans and threw Ah Chai a crumpled 5 dollar note.

In a haste, they just rushed out of the cab without claiming their change. Within seconds, they blended into the crowd and Ah Chai lost sight of them. Majority of the people there are around his daughter's age. There are the occasional older looking ones. Ones that have been left on the shelf for too long. It was understandable that young people frequent such places to enjoy, but if you hit 30 and still do so, you must be a loser.

Ah Chai's thoughts were disrupted when a middle aged ANg MOh man entered his cab. His Asian girl friend followed suit and they requested to be taken to Bayshore Condo. The Ang Moh is balding and has an obvious paunch. His dressing is just as bad and his breath reeked of alcohol.

The Asian girl on the other hand is seemingly young. Probably 25 years his junior. She is very attractive with a good body to boot. But sadly she speaks with a forced slang that eliminates her Asian authenticity. If any of you were to see them, youd'ld be asking the same question that is circling in Ah Chai's head..."What the fuck is she doing with an ugly fuck like him?!"

Ah Chai would rather see this lass with one of the two guys before. But not everyone sees the world through Ah Chai's eyes. Throughout the journey, the tainted couple are literally on top of each other. The only obstruction hindering them was whatever piece of clothing that they had on. As their sweet murmurings increased in volume, so did the sound of Ah Chai's radio.

Yet again Ah Chai's thoughts swayed to his docile 19 year old. While waiting at the traffic light, Ah Chai scrolled for his daughter's number and pressed the dial button. There is no reply. Ah Chai proceeded to dial his home. His wife answered in a draggy tone for she was already half asleep.

"Where is Celine?", Ah Chai asked in his Hokkien dialect. "Out as usual. Christmas Eve ma", his wife replied. "What is she wearing?", Ah Chai probed further. "If you ask me, it looks like nothing. Aiyah..your daughter how old already. Can take care of herself la", his wife retorted back before slamming the phone down on him.

Ah Chai sighed heavily as he raced along the ECP thinking about his daughter which he wished never did grew up. Well like any other youngster her age, Celine is out there having a ball of a time...getting drunk....and wasted...and laid.....only Ah Chai does not know it yet. Like how Sarah Michelle Gellar puts it in 'Cruel Intentions'...."Everyone does it...they just don't talk about it."