The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68747 Message #1182691
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
10-May-04 - 09:32 PM
Thread Name: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
Here's an interesting one. The woman can't write in anything but one-sentence "paragraphs," so I've lumped it together to save space. See the rest at the web site:
Cabbie Goes Extra Miles from the Everett Herald.
Cabbie goes extra miles
Driver took customers from Everett to Milwaukee
By Jennifer Warnick
Herald Writer
Everett cab driver Mark Forbes, an ex-military, ex-cop, ex-plumbing parts salesman, likes to say there's an adventure every day in the taxi business. What began in the wee hours of Saturday, April 10, was more. It was a big yellow odyssey. It had been a busy Friday night, with all the usual runs to Seattle nightclubs, local bars, casinos and grocery stores. Near the end of his 12-hour shift, a Yellow Cab dispatcher radioed Forbes, 62, to make a pickup at the Days Inn on Evergreen Way. He pulled into the motel parking lot and saw two men emerge from a room. He looked at his watch --5:30 a.m. The men had no luggage, so he was sure he could get them to their destination before his shift ended. To the Sikh temple near Seattle, said the taller of the two men. (Sikhism is a monotheistic religion, rejecting Hinduism's caste system, founded in 15th-century India by Guru Nanak.) The cabbie started the meter, shutting off the 1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic's roof vacancy light. Forbes hadn't the faintest idea it would take more than nine days and 2,300 miles to get back home.
Change of plans
Forbes has the voice of a country singer -- rich with a hint of twang. His laugh comes easy, and often. A former Colorado police officer who has also played Santa Claus, his demeanor is just that: a street-smart but jolly old elf. In his cab, Forbes is as smooth as a tour guide, with the small-talk skills bartenders and their tip jars know best. As they rode down the freeway that Saturday morning, the tall man said the two were originally from Punjab, India, and that his friend speaks little English. . .