Thursday, January 11, 2007

Cab Tales...Suicide

There are many bizarre ways to kill oneself. On this cold Winter
night, I met a man that wanted to commit "suicide by Taxi."

It all started when I made a routine pickup of this guy on North Fourth Street, in Coeur d'Alene. He climbed aboard with a sack holding a jug of Vodka. "Take me to Fernan Saddle," said he. OK...Ive been stranger places, and away we went.

On the way up the mountain, I asked him what he was going to do when he got there. He calmly informed me that he was going to kill himself. I asked him why he would do such a thing. He then told me that he discovered his wife had been cheating on him and he didn't want to live any more.

Further questions revealed that the method he was going to use, was to get out of the cab, sit down in a snow bank, drink the jug of Vodka, and wait to freeze to death.

By this time, my mind was going a mile a minute. How do I stop this. Do I stop the cab, turn around and go back? No... He might jump out, then be impossible to find.
I kept on driving up the mountain and started to talk with him. I used about all the diplomacy I had in trying to get him to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, we reached the summit. I looked at him and said, "I really don't want you to do this. You're a nice guy, and if things don't work out for you, a real nice lady will be out there for you. Why don't you let me take you home...No Charge..."

He then said, "OK." I drove him back to our point of departure, didn't ask for a fare, and wished him well...

I don't know what happened to him after that. I never saw him again. I hope he made out OK...

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