Friday the 13th

Friday the thirteenth and a full moon, everyone wants to know if I can sense the craziness that’s purported to be out there; naaahhhh. I take a dishwasher to work. I take a lawyer home from work. A beautiful Indian woman here for Macworld asks me where she can get a massage and not one with a happy ending. She tells me how bad her back is and how her boss made her come here and all she wants is a massage. I suggested Kabuki or Osento, but in hindsight I realized she might have wanted me to do it. She wanted to shake my hand goodbye and she gazed at me lovingly as I pulled out of the Best Western parking lot where I left her. Then the rain came and my windshield is a streaked mess, as if it was cleaned with a scouring pad. My last fare of the night was the most eventful. I pick up two white guys in North Beach and they want to go to the Western Addition. Instead of taking Broadway tunnel, I head south and the west on Pine Street. It’s almost 2 a.m. and people are everywhere trying to hail cabs. It’s raining hard and again its not that easy to drive. There are only three cars on Pine and they’re all cabs. I’m following one and ahead of one. As we are all cruising through the intersection of Mason St. a group of side burned hipsters with trucker caps are jaywalking in the middle of the street. The first cab doesn’t let up and as I pass I see one of them whirl around as if to throw something. I have had many things thrown at me because I am occupied and they are frustrated. I have had my cab punched, kicked, and spit on. I expect something and floor it accordingly. My driver’s side window explodes, glass is everywhere and by the time I stop I am 2 blocks down a one-way street. I pull over next to St. Mary hospital and try to get the attention of a cop but the car is unoccupied. Its poring rain and I have two frazzled customers in the back seat. I remove the glass on my seat and from my ear and proceed to the destination. I have no window and since I only have 30 minutes left in my shift; I call it quits. For the next 2 days I have to drive a spare.