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Twenty years
ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night, I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30
a. m. When I arrived at the place, I saw a small woman in her eighties standing
before me. I took the woman's suitcase to the car and then returned to help her.
She took my arm and we talked slowly toward the car.
She kept
thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just
try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."
"Oh,
you're such a good man," she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an
address, and then asked." Could you drive me throughout the downtown?"
"It's
not the shortest way," I answered quickly.
"Oh,
I'm in no hurry," she said," I'm on my way to the hospice(收容所). I don't have any family left. The
doctor says I don't have very long time." I quickly shut off the meter(计价器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the
building where she had once worked, and the neighbourhood where she had lived. Sometimes
she asked me to slow down in front of a special building and would sit staring into
the darkness, saying nothing.
As the
day broke, she suddenly said," I'm tired. Let's go now."
We drove
in silence to the address she had given me.
"How
much shall I give you?" she asked.
"Nothing,"
I said.
"You
have to make a living, "she answered," Oh, it doesn't matter! I have other
passengers to pick up." I answered.
Almost without
thinking, I bent sown and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said,"
You gave an old woman a little moment of happiness."