Kindly Taxi Maxi

It was early morning and everyone was rushing to work. There were traffic jams on the roads, one car right next to another, with big lorries here and there. Bang in the middle of it all was a taxi called Maxi, as yellow as a canary.

His job was to take whoever called for him to wherever they wished to go. Maxi always liked doing that. But somehow, lately... things haven’t been the same.

Maxi sped-up in order not to miss the green light. At the same time, he wondered why he was feeling so down. It used to be that he would go on one great trip after another with his different passengers. And then he realised what it was! Nobody wants to take the scenic route anymore. And no one talks to him during the drive either. Everyone just grunts and says “to the airport, please” or “to the office, please”, and then settles into the backseat and stares blankly out the window or at their phone.

I wish I knew a magic spell to wake those people up, Maxi wished. So that they could start asking for interesting routes and talking to me again, like they used to do.

Blink! The traffic light turned green and all the cars charged forward with engines roaring. Even Maxi.

And then, as if some magic really had occurred, the gentleman who was now in the taxi suddenly spoke up: “Do you know what, taxi? I’m not at all looking forward to working today. I was supposed to take the day off, but instead I thought I’d better go to the office and make even more money so that I could build the kids an even bigger swimming pool. Also, the whole family could each do…