An Old Fashioned Love Story

When I see an old fashioned Checker Cab it brings up lots of memories. Living in Brooklyn in the 60s there were Checker Cabs all over, now they have car service or I guess what some people may call Gypsy cabs. You still see yellow cabs/taxis in Brooklyn and the other boroughs but mostly because they are bringing someone home from the city or one of the airports in the Tri-State area. But again when I was a kid they were all over Brooklyn and I remember the caboose seats that would pop up from the floor. There were some cabs that had them and some that didn't and I was always delighted when we got a cab with the pop up seats. Absolutely so dangerous at this time but then we just didn't do things the way we do now. And in those days all the cabs were Checker Cabs. Eventually newer cabs came out but you still would see Checker Cabs for many years.

We lived in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn and when you went shopping, no malls in those days, 86th Street was the place to go. And if you have ever heard of the Century 21 Department Stores, the original store was located in my neighborhood on 86th Street. We could walk or take the bus or train to 86th Street, we lived on 97th Street, but sometimes we would take a cab home, I guess when we had too many packages. I don't remember, but my mom told me I always wanted to take the cab, I was about 5 years old and she said I would walk to the curb, wave my arm and yell "TAXI"! I always wanted to whistle too. The way when people put two fingers in their mouth and it's really loud. I remember my father, among so many others, could do it. I always tried to learn but never could. Heck I can barely whistle the easy way. I know for years I wanted to learn so I could hail a taxi with that whistle and at concerts and some of the few sports events I've attended in my life.

I went to secretarial school and worked in New York City for many years, midtown, downtown, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, starting in 1977 and at that time there were still lots of Checker Cabs in the City. Newer cabs were nicer but you could fit way more people in a Checker Cab. But I've learned the ins and outs of hailing a cab even without whistling. You have to keep your eyes on all four corners, watch the little old ladies, they may look small and frail but put a taxi, bus or train seat in front of them and you can't believe how fast they move. On a rainy day you're better off getting wet walking to the train or bus and looking for a cab on your way, maybe getting lucky, instead of standing in the rain, getting splashed, and get splashed you will, trying to hail a cab. And if you hail a cab and it gets stuck at a light and another cab pulls up, you get in that cab. Just again the ins and outs of getting a cab ride in New York City.

Over the years I've met so many people, some again I can't even remember their names but I remember their faces and sharing some little part of my life. Others I can remember their first names and not last and I'm also so lucky that quite a few of the people I've met over the years are still in my life. I know their first and last names, their faces and their hearts.

Years ago I worked as a secretary for a big financial firm downtown on a mini trading floor, from about 1985 to 1990 or so. The trading floor I worked in was originally created to take care of the partners' finances but eventually it morphed and included high net worth individuals. And again, as I have been so many times, just this close to meeting or even seeing Bruce Springsteen face-to-face, as he had an account set up in our department. I just wasn't around the time he came in! It was also the time Oliver Stone and bad-boy Charlie Sheen spent a few days in my office, Charlie sitting just across from my desk with one of the traders, Richard, who I had the biggest crush on! Oliver Stone was making the film Wall Street at the time and wanted to see a trading floor up close and in action. Oliver mostly stood off to the sides watching the entire scene, while Charlie again, was sitting with super handsome Richard!

But no love story there with Richard or Charlie or Oliver. But my old fashioned love story is from those years when I worked on the trading floor and also a Checker Cab. Again I only remember her first name, Michele. And her boyfriend, eventually husband, his name is Emmet. He used to call the office and say it was Al calling and I asked Michele why. She said it was because most people when they heard Emmet would always say "what?" "who?". So he just came up with Al. It's funny weird but my name is Tricia and I know I have a Brooklyn accent and tawk funny but I can't tell you how many people think my name is Georgia when I say my name over the phone. Seriously! I don't know how they get Georgia? Maybe it's not my accent but the speed in which I say my name!

So back to my friend Michele. Michele worked for the big guy on the floor, don't remember his name either but he actually worked on a bigger trading floor a few years before running my department and had a heart attack right at his desk. Oh I do remember his first name now that I'm telling the story, Bruce. Bruce how could I forget that!! He calmed down, had to, when he worked in our department, but he still made me nervous. Of course when Michele was out I was the fill-in for her. I was nervous working for Bruce but he liked me pretty much, I have a way of getting the grumpiest of people to smile.

One day I asked Michele how she met Emmet. I was entranced with the story, it should be a movie, it would be a real life fairy tale come true. Michele had been on a date with a guy she had dated years before and during the date she remembered why the relationship didn't go further than just one date, he was an ass. She got through the date as quickly as she could, left the restaurant and hailed a cab. She got an old fashioned Checker Cab.

She was in Manhattan and lived in Queens and told the driver where to take her. She was not in the best of moods, had a horrible evening and was thinking what does she say when this guy calls her again, and he was going to call! She was lost in her thoughts when the cab driver started talking to her. She wasn't in the mood to chitchat but eventually she found herself engaged in a nice conversation with the driver and they chatted the whole ride to her home.

About a year later Michele was in the city one night at her ballet lesson and it was pouring rain, had been all day, one of those cold days and you just can't get the chill out of yourself. Michele left the lesson, heading out into the pouring rain to hail a cab. Now again rain and cabs in New York city are a rare bird. And in the rain it's so hard to see, if you're lucky enough to get a cab, someone else can jump right in front of you, just as you're closing up your umbrella, and there your cab goes!

Michele hailed a cab and just as she did the light changed red and the cab she hailed got caught at the light. Another cab pulled up and Michele actually motioned to the driver, no, I'm good. You don't do that in New York! Even on a bright sunny day, you don't do that! Again, someone else could grab that cab while it's stopped at the light and again there your cab goes.

But Michele did get that cab. Again it was pouring, you could hardly see. And again Michele got a Checker Cab! She gets in the cab and tells the driver she's going to Queens and starts to give her address when the driver says, I know such and such street, off of whatever avenue. Michele is freaked out. What's going on here? As he's telling her where she lives she's just saying, yes to each question and getting spooked big time! The driver realizes he's scaring her and tells her please don't be nervous, I drove you home about a year ago, we spoke the entire ride home and starts to remind her of certain parts of the conversation. Michele now remembers but still feels kind of weird, like is this guy a stalker, but again after a few minutes she again found herself engaged in wonderful conversation, very comfortable, easy to talk to this man.

Now what's the chance of getting the same cab driver two times, a year apart and pick-ups at two separate locations? What's the chance of that cab getting caught at the light, another cab pulling up to take Michele home on a dark rainy night in New York City, her waving that cab off, no one grabbing the cab stuck at the red light first? I mean really! The fates were at work here.

The driver of course is Emmet. And Emmet wasn't a stalker, never drove around her house or where he picked her up with his cab originally. She was on a date that night, at a restaurant, a place maybe she never went to again, who knows. I believe Michele and Emmet were meant to meet. He asked her out on a date when she was getting ready to get out of the cab the second time they met. She wasn't sure, still a little freaked out although she liked him, he was a nice guy. Emmet again sensed her getting nervous and said let's do lunch, you pick a place and we'll meet there. She did and they quickly fell in love, just meant to be together. They were dating and living together for quite a few years by the time I met Michele.

Emmet did see her across the street that rainy night. He recognized her and could not believe that she was standing there, out of all the cabs in New York City she hailed his cab! Even in the pouring rain. She was etched in his heart from the moment he met her.

I got to know Emmet and he was a great guy, very sweet. Michele and Emmet went away on vacation to Vermont while we were still co-workers and came back from that vacation with an engagement ring on her finger and another romantic story to share. Emmet took her on a horse-drawn sleigh ride on a snowy night. Michele noticed that Emmet seemed a little off. He kept asking the driver if they were half-way through the ride and was drinking the wine he had brought for them a little too quickly. Finally the driver said we're half-way and Emmet and Michele took a walk in the snowy woods with their wine and love to keep them warm but Emmet was still acting strange. Finally he just gulped down his wine and told her how much he loved her, how nervous he had been all day and days before, will you marry me, will you be with me forever. Michele said yes, the whole time never thinking he had any intention of asking her to marry him, surprised and elated.

Emmet and Michele had their wedding and reception in Manhattan and when Michele walked out of the church, there was a Checker Cab waiting to take Emmet and her to their reception. Such a romantic guy Emmet! Though I haven't seen them in years I believe they lived happily ever after.