The door opened and stuff started to tumble out .. a couple of fabric bags stuffed with clothes, a binder and some books, shoes, shoe boxes and a couple more bags, all followed by a teenage girl fumbling with her coat. She carried as much as she could to the car while I scrambled to get the back door open in time. I offered her help but she refused. Her energy was swift and determined as she made the few awkward trips it took to get, what seemed to be, all her worldly goods into the backseat, and as it became abundantly clear to me that we were running away from home.
A man, my age, appeared at the door, said nothing, did not interrupt her work and quickly disappeared again... tough love I thought.
It wasn't until the younger sister appeared on the scene, arriving home at the most inopportune time, that the curtain was pulled back on the intense emotions that were revolving around this situation. I was surprised at the disdain the younger sibling expressed toward the older one as she proceeded to make her parents case. Runaway girl did not indulge her sister, got into the front seat of my cab, and quietly told me where to go.
One of the most interesting aspects of driving a taxi is the human energy that is impossible for me to escape in the small, dark space that is my cab. Often it is wild with celebration because much of our night time business comes from bars and parties, but it can also be calm with end of day satisfaction, quiet with foreplay, or intense with the debriefing of any kind of confrontational situation. This was that.
When run-away girl got in it was intense as her determined energy dissolved into sadness and tears and there was no escaping it for me. She was obviously very upset and her tears quickly became mine. My policy for intense situations that are none of my business, is silence. This served me well as I struggled to stop and hide the tears that were now running down my face. And then she spoke... “I can't believe I just did that”.
This changed everything and suddenly I was in.. and I didn't have much time. It turned out that she was leaving home to live with her boyfriend who, I was guessing her parents were not that thrilled about. The teenage girl in me was suddenly in conflict with the parent in me and I found myself walking a fine line. I could understand her need to break away from the control her parents were trying to exert over her emerging sexuality and I could understand the intense parental love that inspired their tough approach...They are just trying to protect you, I told her. They love you and they just want what's best for you even if it doesn't seem like it now. I know she said, they've brought me up right, I do well in school, I look after my sister and I do what they say .. I just can't take it anymore.
Just don't get pregnant, was my advice.. and she agreed not to as we pulled up to the address that she had given me. It warmed my heart that her boyfriend came out to welcome her with a hug, and that he was accompanied by others ready to help her with her stuff. He paid but before she got out run-away girl turned to me, looked into my red teary eyes with hers, smiled and said “thanks”.
I knew from what she had said that she was right... that her parents had raised her right, and that she was going to be fine.
Growing pains … emerging adulthood..
Real life in my taxi.
