Lou gets me home.

I get overwhelmed sometimes. Do I walk to the store before getting in a cab to go home? I had a good night. Good tips. Does that mean I should be extra careful? It would be a shame if something happened to me between work and my front door, and a tragedy if it happened on a night I made more money than usual. That’s how the headlines would read, but I don’t see the difference. Still, I think of all the possibilities. Going to the store or not determines which cab I get into. Even standing there watching all the lighted medallion numbers coast by, which one will give off a good enough feeling to cause me to raise my hand in hail? It’s the one with an older, smaller back seat. Not the one with the hundred dollar bill on the floor, but it’s the driver that takes Houston instead of Delancey. Lot’s of traffic on Houston. He turns on the radio, and it’s Lou Rawls! “You’ll never find...” He nods his head in time and turns it up a little. No, he changed stations by mistake. Back to Lou. “...another love like mine...” This guy’s a maniac, weaving in and out, leaning on the horn while passing on the right. “You’re gonna miss my loving...” I can’t see the speedometer as I’m sitting back, pressed into the vinyl, relaxed with the comforting thought of flying off the bridge listening to Lou Rawls. “You’re gonna miss... You’re gonna miss...” I try to cross the street to my building, but some guy in a Honda decides to floor it down the block in reverse before making a U-turn. I‘m home now, thinking of the decisions that got me here. I’ll limit my thoughts to decisions of tonight.