On the Way Home

8/30/18
I was heading home from coffee with friends around . We've been meeting every Thursday night 10:30pm.since...forever. It's the place where nerdom, fandom, and chicanery collide. I had had a ton of decaf and infantile conversation, so I was wired and figured I would catch a Lyft on the way home if I could. Just when I thought I wasn't going to get anyone, a request came in that was blocks from home.
I pulled up to the stop and clicked "Arrive" and I didn't have to wait long. A man exploded out of the front door of one of the row homes angrily swinging a couple plastic shopping bags. I verified his identity, and as he got in he said "Yeah, she threw me out and I ain't going to jail for no woman."

Well.

Okay.

That's a little tense. Apparently she had also put in the wrong address, so he was a little miffed that he would have to guide me once the navigation got closer. So to ease the tension, I made sure he was comfortable and turned up the AC and offered him a bottle of water. After a few minutes, he had calmed down a bit. We chatted, and he told me he worked at a local college. He was amazed at my lack of knowledge of the city. He had been living there for fifty years, his whole life, and knew everything there was to know about it.
"Yeah, she threw me out. She mean when she been drinkin'," he said ruefully from the back seat. "We was supposed to go out, too."
"What was the argument about, if you don't mind my asking?" I asked carefully. Never can be too sure with riders as to how personal a conversation can go.
"She wanted me to make a call on my cell phone," he began,"and I said 'You got a cell phone. Why don't you make the call?' And she didn't like that."
"That was all?" I cocked my head a bit in incredulity. I probably looked like one of those dog memes. Thank god it was dark.
"Yeah, I was going to walk back, 'cause I ain't dealin' with all that," he laughed.
I checked the app. He was going fourteen minutes into the city.
"I'm glad you are not," I said. "It's too far in the dark at this time of night. You might get mugged or something."
"I ain't afraid of nothin' in this town," he shook his head. "Been living here fifty years, I know everything there is to know. I got nothin' to be 'fraid of."
"Yep,"he continued after taking a drink from his water bottle. "She got all mad, screamin' and stuff. It was almost like she wanted me to hit her. But I been raised not to hit no woman. And I ain't goin' in the hole. No sir."
I checked the rearview mirror and could see he was staring out the window.
"No sir," he said again quietly. "I ain't goin' in the hole again."
I assumed he was referencing jail time, as "the hole" is a euphemism for jail at least in our area of the world. He seemed like a nice man to me, and I could not imagine him in jail. But hey, a lot can happen in the city in fifty years.
He was quiet for awhile. I tried to think of something positive to say, though I am no expert on relationships. Actually, I'm pretty sure I am relationship challenged. Still, I like to think of myself as a positive person and I did not want him to go home looking so defeated.
"Well," I ventured. "She cared enough to call you a ride."
I could tell he was thinking about it.
"Yeah," he said after a minute. "Yeah, she did."
He directed me to his drop off, we said goodnight, and I wished him luck.