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Travis stared at the telephone for a few seconds. He picked it up. “Hello?”
“Hi, uh…Travis?”
“Sonny?” He pinches his nose. “Why are…?”
“Uhm, I went to the cab garage to look for you but you weren’t there. They gave me your number and address and uh…I’m actually right downstairs. Like right now.”
Travis walked to the window with the telephone in hand. He saw Sonny waving at him in a phone booth across the street, mouth moving as if saying something, then remembered the receiver in his hand.
“Can l come in?”
Travis nodded. He hung up and looked around the room. The guns he just bought were lying on his banged-up table. Probably not a good look considering what he plans to do with them. He hurriedly swept them under his bed before opening the door. Sonny seemed to have stood there for a while, he was shivering like a homeless mutt in the cold wind, snow covered his thin coat.
“You look like shit man”
“I know.” Sonny gave him an apologetic look. His voice was shaky from the cold. Travis moved aside to let him in.
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Sonny is his customer. And it goes without saying that not all Travis’ customers are supposed to end up in his apartment. He might need to rethink a lot of choices he made in his life.
They met each other for the first time just after New Year’s Eve. New York at this time always try to outdo its past self at alluring lost souls with its explosion of neon lights, like moths to a flame. Outside a shabby apartment building, a couple of girls with low cut tops and half of their asses hanging out of their skirts surrounded a random guy, a pimp stood not far away.
A taxi was parked on the sidewalk. Travis sat inside, watching them all with intensity.
Someone knocked on the window on the passenger’s seat, the sudden sound pulled Travis out of his trance. He stared at the handle a bit before rolling the window down. A young man poked his head in.
“I’m off duty.” He pointed upwards, “Can’t you read?”
Sonny-Travis knows his name now-seemed to have been startled by his hostility, and pulled back his head a bit.
“But uh…It’s just past five!”
“I work nights.”
“Oh…Ok.”He seemed embarrassed. “Ok uh…Sorry it’s just that, I waited twenty minutes for a cab so, sorry.”
Maybe the chilling breeze from the streets cooled down his temper. Or maybe he felt a tinge of guilt after scaring the unlucky young man. Whatever the reason, Travis decided to be a nice person today. He let out a sigh.
“Get in.”
The scene in front of the building seemed to have escalated, almost to the point of physical violence. Travis kept staring for a few more seconds, then fired up the engine.
That was the start of everything. Travis was at the same spot the next evening, watching the same group of people. At some point he noticed Sonny in his rear mirror, pacing in circles on the sidewalk while pretending not to have seen his cab a few feet away. Travis honked twice, saving Sonny from his predicament.
“Thanks.” His customer slipped in beside him and sunk back in the seat.
Travis shrugged, what was meant to be a ‘you’re welcome’.
The tiny space in the cab seemed to have created an intimacy between them. Travis could sense that the other wasn’t handling it too well. The fact that they drove in silence only added to his uneasiness. He thought about turning on the radio, but the chance of a love song filling the air made him change his mind.
“Why do you always park at the same spot?” Finally the young man decided to break the silence. “I mean, it’s pretty far away from the garage.”
They stopped at a red light. Travis moved his gaze to the rear mirror, and then on Sonny. “Why do you always wait for cabs at the same spot?”
Sonny rolled his eyes. “Cause of my job, obviously.”
“Your job?”
“In a bank near-by, ok? Just got it. It’s like a desert out there, never seen a cab pass by.”
Green light. Travis let off the break.
“Shouldn’t you go out after work? With some girls? Kinda rare to see you young people walking around alone at this hour.”
Sonny let out a small laugh. “What are you, seventy years old?”
Travis shrugged again and turned the steering wheel. “Just an observer.”
“If you wanna know, then fine. I’ve got an ex-wife. Me and her either pretend we don’t know each other or wish for the other’s death. Got two kids, she takes care of them, I pay the rent, so…”
Travis was still for a moment.
“I had a girl, went out on a couple of dates.” He said, remnant pain hidden under his words, “Then I took her to a porno.”
“You gotta be kidding me.” Sonny chuckled then let out a big laugh, “God, buddy, you are fucked up.”
“I know, man, I know.” Who isn’t in this city? Travis thought to himself.
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Sonny stepped out of the car and shut the door. He took a few steps away before turning back, signing for Travis to roll down the window.
“Thank you, I’m Sonny.” He stretched out his hand. Travis hesitated for a second, then reached out his own.
“Travis.” Their hands meet. Sonny noticed how cold Travis’ hand was, and Travis the other way around. They both held it firm.
“Thank you, Travis. You’re a good man.” They shook hands. Travis pondered a bit on that statement, then drove away with Sonny watching him from the rear mirror.
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During their third ride together, they shared their cheerful memories in Vietnam. (In a sarcastic way, of course.) And after the fifth time, Travis told himself to stop calling the other “young man” since apparently Sonny is three years older than him. Just a few minutes ago, Sonny appeared in a telephone booth across Travis’ apartment building.
“Thank God you’re here. Jesus, I’m real sorry. I don’t know what l was thinking.” Sonny rambled on seemingly with no directions, maybe it’s the cold. His eyes wandered around the room before focusing on Travis. He looked him up and down.
“I can’t believe you are wearing that jacket at home.”
“I can’t believe you wear that shirt in the snow.” Travis bit back while looking for the water cattle, then remembered he doesn’t have one. Cold never really bothered him. “What happened? You got thrown out?”
“More or less.” Sonny sat on the edge of the bed due to the lack of chairs, his face in his hands. “I’m fired. Bank manager called me, hard times and recession and all that crap…Then the land lord popped up asking for rent again. Anyway, we argued for ten minutes, broke some stuff, and l ran out.”
Travis gave up on figuring out a way to warm up the room. He fetched some beer from behind his broken fridge, opened one then handed it to Sonny. “That doesn’t sound smart.”
“No shit. God, my life is a disaster. I gotta pay the rent still. Fuck, what am I gonna do, I’m dying here. Maybe I should also drive a cab, or join the mob. I mean for God’s sake, I’m half Italian.”
“You can’t. Only pure Italians get made. They only use half breeds for their dirty work. And, forgive me, but you don’t look like you can handle that.”
“Alright, alright, a book keeper then. They don’t need to be a hundred percent Italian, right?”
“Don’t, join, the mob. They’re fucking scum.” Travis spat with venom. He looked serious and concerned. It didn’t seem like the first time he tried to convince someone of their misjudgment.
They drank in silence.
“Hey.” It was Travis who broke the silence this time. “Wanna watch some television?”
And that was how Travis spent his Sunday night, going through the last of his beer with a man he knew for two weeks while watching a cheesy romance flick. Not exactly what he had in mind this morning, but turned out pleasant nevertheless.
“You believe in the millennium stuff?” Sonny suddenly asked out of nowhere when the credits rolled,
Travis glanced at the last bottle of beer. “Like that stupid fountain thing in Angels in America?”
“Uhm, kinda. Miracles might happen. People will all have money and don’t need to work no more. I can drink to that.”
“That’s 26 years away.” Travis mused at his childish wishes. “Also, you sound like a fucking commie right now.”
They both laughed at that. After a while Travis looked back at Sonny, and found him staring. Then Sonny leaned over and kissed him.
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The first thought Travis had the next morning when he woke up, was how good of a sleep he had. He scanned the room around him and remembered last night. He cursed under his breath.
He was the only one there. A note was left on his table with messy handwriting: I’m sorry. No signature.
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Travis parked at the same spot where hookers and pimps clustered. After several hours of waiting he realized that Sonny no longer had a reason to come here. He drove to Sonny’s place and sat on his front porch till late into the night. He didn’t show up.
The next day, he was at the old spot again, with all his guns.
When the first bullet ripped through the insides of Sport. Travis thought about all the choices he made in his life, then Sonny.
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Travis opened his eyes.
“Am I in hell?” He croaked.
“Worse, pal. You’re in New York.” A stranger’s voice answered him, “Hey Sonny, your boyfriend is awake.”
“Shut up, Stevie.” Another voice chimed in. A head with curly hair appeared in his vision.
“Sonny?”
“Yeah it’s me.”
Travis tried to form thoughts. He first realized he’s in a hospital room. “Hold on…what happened?”
Sonny struggled with his words. “Uh, well, it’s complicated. Sal and I were passing by our spot,” His voice hitched a bit at ‘our’. “I heard gun shots coming outta the building, and saw your cab. We uh, had a gun in our car, by chance.” Somehow Travis didn’t believe that. “I got the gun and went upstairs, found you on the couch bleeding. You scared the fuck outta me man. And then the cops came, wanted to arrest everybody, God it was a mess. Anyway, the girl said you’re crazy but a nice guy and stuff. I don’t know how but they let us bring you to the hospital.”
“I’m…a bit lost.” Travis said slowly.
“That’s probably the morphine. Just take a good rest now, some reporters might come later, said they wanted to put you on the paper tomorrow.”
Travis could almost feel the cobwebs in his brain. One particular memory reared its head.
“Wait, Sonny.”
“Yeah?”
“The note you left me. What does it mean?”
Sonny stood still. “Uhm, I’m sorry.” He stroked his hair with one hand. “I thought you would…”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“So, you’re…”
“Yeah.”
Sonny felt his face heat up.
“Guys, if you wanna act out some sappy ending like in a romance flick, let me just remind you there’s another person in this room.”
“Fuck off, Stevie.” Sonny turned to the sight of Stevie disappearing into the hallway along with his laughter.
Romance flick. Huh. Travis raised his eyebrows. Those choices he made sure led to a surprising ending.
End.