Waist Deep

12

I put some of Matt’s expense money to use early the next morning.After a small breakfast of toast and coffee in my apartment, I slipped on my cowboy boots and my leather jacket and called for a taxi.

The driver was a clean-cut white kid in a pressed white shirt and a thin tie.He’d asked me my destination.When I told him Fillmore High School, he’d started the meter, asked me if I wanted to hear some music and drove on without a word.The interior of the cab was spotless and didn’t smell of anything other than the faintest whiff of pine.He navigated his cab through downtown quickly but without causing me to lurch in my seat and before long we were headed up Grand Boulevard.When I checked his speed, I noticed we were exactly one mile per hour under the speed limit.

I nodded my approval and looked back out the window.I thought about the interviews ahead. A small tingle of excitement fluttered in my chest.

Outside, the real estate was getting more expensive the closer we got to Fillmore.