Earl

New York was a different kind of hell during August. That sticky heat still lingered from the summer months, preying on those who dared use public transport or run for a cab. 

No one understood this better than Earl.

Earl was a 68-year-old cab driver in New York City. He had experienced thirty eight Augusts in this career, and it never got any easier. The unbearable heat mixed with the complaining, odorous passengers – hell.

He liked his job, though, which is why he had stayed so long. There were highs and lows of course, but at the very least, it was entertaining.

Like this very moment, where Earl chuckled at a sweaty twenty something boy in a cowboy hat running next to his cab, desperately trying to hail it down. Earl admired his determination; for wearing a cowboy hat in a New York August as well as the cab chase.

As was his sense of humor, Earl continued to crawl along the road to see how long it would take the boy to give up. When he eventually saw the boy was simply relentless, he pulled up along the street.

Earl continued chuckling to himself, pulled out his paper and wrote down the words, “cowboy” and “marathon”. The old man got into the habit of making a note of these silly cab driver experiences years ago.

He looked up from his page, and out the passenger window, he saw that same cowboy looking very perplexed. Earl could see he was in the middle of a heated conversation with a short brunette girl who looked to be the same age. Whilst the boy was simply dressed in a white shirt, jeans, and of course, the cowboy hat, the girl was clothed in a flowing sapphire blue sundress and red heels. Even with those extra inches on her feet, the cowboy towered over her.

Never one to miss out on a drama, Earl rolled down the window to get a better listen.

With the vocal fry of a West Coaster, the girl said, “Excuse me?”

“I said, this is my cab, ma’am.”

Earl re-picked up his pen immediately. This was simply too good: the valley girl and the cowboy fighting over his cab.

“Okay sorry,” said the girl, wearing a tone that indicated how completely un-sorry she was. “But have you been standing here for the last twenty minutes trying to wave one of these things down? Looking at the sweat running down your nose, I doubt it.”

Oh dear, thought Earl. He must not have seen the girl waving for a cab, and when he pulled over in front of her, for the cowboy, she assumed it was for her.

“Actually, I hailed this cab running down the street.” 

The girl rolled her eyes in a bored way and said, “Okay well as much as I would love to spend the rest of my day debating which one of us hailed the cab that I definitely hailed, I actually have a flight to catch.”

With that, she stalked towards the cab and stuck her head through the window to say, “JFK, please.”

“Certainly,” smiled Earl and the girl climbed in the backseat.

Earl got ready to drive off, but to his amusement the cowboy also opened the door and got into his car.

Through his front mirror, Earl saw the girl screw up her face and say, “You know this is kind of weird right. Like this is giving major stalker vibes.”

“If you had given me the chance, you’d have heard that I’m also going to the airport. JFK right?”, the boy responded.

Earl could tell that the girl in the backseat was rarely left without words, but she was speechless. She didn’t take long to recover, though.

“I don’t see a suitcase.”

“Neither do I.”, the cowboy retorted.

Funny, Earl thought as he noticed they were both without bags but on route to an airport.

“I’ll have you know,” said the girl, “My fiancé already has my things in Barbados.”

The cowboy cooed appreciatively. “Barbados? Bet that’s costing your daddy a whole lot of money.”

“Actually, I’ll have you know—”

“You said that already.”

“Excuse me?”

““I’ll have you know”. You’ve used it twice now.”

The girl stifled a small scream. Earl could tell that this cowboy was hitting all kinds of nerves with a girl who was not to be messed with.

“I can assure you…”

“Matt.” The boy finished.

“Matt. I can assure you, Matt, that I am paying my own way onto this trip. I can imagine that’s difficult for your tiny misogynistic brain from the South to wrap its head around, but I am in fact able to fund my lifestyle.”

It was fascinating to hear a girl who sounded so like a Kardashian make such an eloquent point, thought Earl. He was enamored with the pair. Neither of them seemed to acknowledge him; they were both so wrapped up in pushing each other’s buttons.

Showing the first crack in his calm demeanor, Matt defensively responded, “That’s not what I meant—”. But then he sighed in surrender. “You’re right, ma’am. That was out of line. I apologize.”

The girl simply snorted and said, “Cut it out with the titles. Julia works.”

With that, Earl felt the tension diffuse in the back seat, but only slightly. It was time for him to get involved in the drama.

“So, Julia,” the old man looked back at her through his mirror. “You’re engaged?”

Clearly having forgot they were not alone, Julia laughed in surprise and said, “Oh, no, I'm not.”

Matt wasn’t quiet for long. “You said you had a fiancé.”

Julia shot him an annoyed look and retorted, “I do. Well, not yet.” And with the first genuine smile Earl had seen her show, she said, “But after this weekend I will.”

“Ahh,” Earl said. “You’re getting engaged in Barbados?”

Julia nodded sweetly.

“How can you be so sure?” Matt piped up again.

“I just am.” Julia hit back with a scowl. “We’ve always talked about getting engaged in Barbados. So why else would we go?”

Earl turned his head ever so slightly to look at Matt’s face. The men exchanged an incredulous smile.

Not giving Matt a chance to comment and rile up the young girl again, Earl asked him, “And you, Matt? What exotic island are you off to this weekend?”

“And why don’t you have any bags?” Julia chimed in.

“Well, sir, the only exotic island I’m goin’ to is Canada.” Looking over at Julia, he said, “And the reason I don’t have any bags is because I won’t be staying long.”

Earl noticed that there was a definite sadness in the boy’s voice as he said the last part. “Oh,” he prodded. “Any reason why?”

“I'm going there to break up with my girlfriend.”

Both Julia and Earl gasped a little at this.

“Yeah,” he laughed defeatedly. “Long distance just ain’t working for me. She’s up there in that big city, I’m down in Knoxville. And the only option she’s giving me is to move up there; she’d never consider coming out to the sticks.”

“Why don’t you just moved to Toronto?”, asked Julia, who obviously couldn’t ever imagine why someone would choose a small town in Tennessee over a city like Toronto.

Matt laughed once again. “I love my hometown. Simple as. It’s not like I’d never move, it’s just that Toronto don’t feel like home to me.”

“That, I understand.” Earl said softly. “Now, here we are.”

The yellow car slowed down as it approached the terminal drop-off point at JFK.

“Oh,” said Julia, looking slightly off-guard. “That was quick.”

Smiling, Earl said, “Yes, it felt that way. Time flies.”

The old man then turned round in his seat to face the two and said, “Julia, congratulations. Enjoy your weekend. And Matt, best of luck to you too.” He couldn’t help but add, “I don’t know about you both, but I thoroughly enjoyed my journey.”

Julia gave Matt a side-eye whilst he fidgeted with his hat.

“Different as you may be, you both make quite a pair.”

With hurried thank you’s and goodbyes, the pair got out the cab and walked off in opposite directions.

Earl smiled.

Matt

Matt arrived in Toronto that night to be met with the humming buzz of a Friday night in a city. No surprise there. What was a surprise, however, was that his girlfriend, Amy, was waiting for him at arrivals. Matt usually made his own way to her place as she didn’t like the commute.

Amy squeaked, “Babe!” in excitement, running over to jump into the arms of a boy who had every intention of breaking up with her. Matt’s heart ached, however, as he held her in his arms. The fact that he was so happy to see her made what he was about to do more painful. The couple did the same things they’ve always done; drove home, took a shower, and ate dinner. Though tonight, instead of going out for dinner as they usually would, Matt offered to cook for them both at home. He didn’t feel as though this was a conversation to have in a public restaurant.

At 6:48pm, Matt and Amy sat down to a homemade lasagna. They chatted with the ease and comfort of two people who had been in love for the past fourteen months. When Matt spotted the lull in conversation that he needed, he decided it was time to break the news.

Clearing the plates away, Matt said, “Okay, darlin', there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

To his surprise, Amy looked untroubled by this, and responded, “Me too, but you go first.”

“Oh, okay.”, Matt was slightly taken aback, but sat back down next to her and said, “Well, I’ve been thinking… about us. A lot.”

Amy nodded.

“And I’m happy, Amy, I really am. I love you. But the more I think about our future, I don’t see how it’s going to work.”

Amy continued nodding.

“I mean, we’re 700 miles from each other. And it seems like the only solution to that is for me to move up here. I know I said I’d consider it, and I really did. But Toronto ain’t my home, darlin'. My life is in Knoxville, and I’m happy there. Do you know what I’m sayin’?”

Amy was stilling nodding. “I completely understand babe.”

Instantly, the anxiety left Matt’s body. He couldn’t believe how well she was taking this. “Good,” he said. “Which is why-“

“I’m going to move to Knoxville instead.”

Silence. Matt wasn’t even sure if he heard her correctly.

Amy repeated herself. “I’ll move to Knoxville.”

“Wh-what?”, stuttered Matt. She couldn’t have said anything that would have dumbfounded him more than this.

“Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? If you won’t move up here, and I get why, then our only choice is to live in Knoxville. Your tied to that town, with the farm and the business. I have no real strings keeping me here.”

“But you said you’d hate Knoxville,” said Matt who was trying to make sense of it all. “You said you liked living here.”

Amy laughed and said, “Well I’ll get to love Knoxville. I’ll make a life I like down there too.” She reached over and grabbed Matt’s hand. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll be okay.”

Julia

Somewhere in Barbados, a breath-taking home sat perched on the beach front. White and airy and grand and perfect. Inside those many walls, a 33-year-old man-child cowered on the marble floor of his bathroom clutching his eye that would very quickly bruise. Surrounding him was the red high heel shoe that attacked his eye, and a puddle of water from the shower that his girlfriend had just caught him taking with another woman.

Julia was a self-taught “chill girl”, but she had never experienced rage like this in her life. In all honesty, she didn’t want the rage to leave, because she knew that she would be left with some very heavy feelings once it did.

She thought she was coming here to get engaged. Not walk in on her boyfriend rinsing the shampoo out of another girl’s hair.

Still clutching his eye, Ryan screamed, “I thought you were arriving tomorrow!”.

“That’s what you’re complaining about?”, Julia screamed back. “That I didn’t give you enough notice to get rid of your side chick?”

Red coursed through Julia’s entire body, and she stormed out of the master bathroom into the bedroom so she didn’t have to look at her boyfriend. Ryan and his wet feet padded behind her, offering weak pleas and apologies.

“Look baby, I’m sorry. I fucked up. She means nothing to me.”

“She” had since run out of the house wearing nothing but a plush towel.

 To Julia’s horror, Ryan’s words got to her like they always had. She quickly felt the rage evaporate, and all that was left was the intense ache in her chest. It was burning sadness.

Looking out the window to avoid the man’s eye, she whispered to nobody in particular, “It felt so real.”.

“What felt real, baby?”

The question snapped Julia back into the present moment and she spun around to face Ryan. “This fucking relationship! The words, the presents, the closeness, the adoration – it all felt real.” She let out an exasperated laugh. “Ryan, I thought you were proposing this weekend!”

Seeing an opportunity, a soft spot, Ryan leapt into action. “I was, Julia! Look.” He marched over to his nightstand and pulled a square box out of the drawer. In one soul-destroying movement, he opened the box up and Julia was confronted with the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Not only that, but it was also the exact ring she had described to Ryan when they spoke about getting engaged one day.

Julia wasn’t sure if her heart could shatter any more when a realization dawned on her.

“You were going to propose this weekend. With that beautiful ring, in this beautiful place… after fucking another girl? Like nothing ever happened?”

Ryan let out a long sigh and hung his head with the cliché self-pity of a man being held accountable for his actions. “Don’t be like that, babe. You know it wasn’t like that.”

She didn’t know that, actually.

“I was always going to propose. I’ve been thinking about it for months. Obviously, I have because I’m crazy about you. I just wasn’t thinking straight.”

Toneless, Julia’s only response was, “Yeah, I guess you weren’t.”

2 weeks later

Earl couldn’t believe his luck. The cowboy, Matt, had returned and was Earl's current passenger. He was picked up from JFK mid-afternoon, 2 weeks after Earl had dropped him off.

“As delighted as I am to see you,” said Earl. “I’m surprised. I thought your excursion to Canada was only brief? With a certain task in mind?”

Matt coughed out a laugh and said, “Yeah, that plan was quickly derailed.”

Earl gave a knowing smile in return, “These things usually are.”

Despite his response though, Earl couldn’t help but feel sad. Matt obviously hadn’t broken up with his girlfriend and although he knew almost nothing about the boy, he would have bet his life that he made the wrong decision. What he had seen between that boy and Julia a few weeks ago, left him with a vivid remembrance of him and his wife in their golden days. He missed her dreadfully, but Julia and Matt reminded him of what it was like to experience that instant connection, the chemistry, and the banter. He wanted them to have more of that.

Nonetheless, Earl and Matt made general chit-chat all the way to Matt’s city apartment, and it was a very pleasant journey.

Earl bid the boy farewell, and as he was climbing out the cab, shouted out to him through the window, “You take care now, young man. Don’t forget what or who makes you feel alive.”

Matt

What a damn strange thing to say, thought Matt as he left the cab and started walking up the flight of stairs to his apartment. Even stranger where his mind went as soon as he said it. The man, whose name he had never gotten, was a strange but kind taxi driver and Matt certainly hoped they would meet again.

For some reason, part of him wished he had told the man the whole truth. Yes, his breakup plan was derailed. He never had to follow through because he didn’t have the chance. She threw him the solution to their relationship and he took it immediately. But even as a week went by of playing happy couples, Matt couldn’t deny that he felt unsettled, discontent, and he simply couldn’t shake the idea that something was missing.

He wished he had told the old cab driver that he did in fact follow through with the breakup, it just took slightly longer than anticipated.                                 

Arriving on the third floor of apartments, Matt rustled in his jean pockets to find his keys. He found them, but subsequently dropped them on the floor. Bending down to pick them up, his hand brushed something else on his floor: a note.

The cowboy picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. It read:

           “Stalker vibes, I know, but turns out we live in the same building.

                      Didn’t get engaged after all. Coffee?

                                   Apartment 41. J x”

And just like Earl had 2 weeks prior, Matt smiled.