Cab #1180

Date Taken: 12/13/06
From: Roscoe Village
To: Wicker Park

The Cab: Safety-glass- and cell phone-free! The front seats were lusciously upholstered in plush taupe; the back seats in lumpy-textured vinyl. Could've seemed like a punitive measure, but the whole interior was so clean and comfy it was hard to take the seating disparity as a personal attack. But then there was the smell. If you can imagine being transported in a giant vat of Pina Colada mix, you're getting warm. Now imagine you choke a little bit and some of it gets up your nose. Yeah, that's it.

The Driver: Polite and extremely well-dressed. Gave off a sense of gentlemanly pleasantness. So quiet it was left to the dispatcher on the radio to provide the drama of the evening's taxi cab traffic. For what it's worth, she seemed to be having one hell of a night.

The Driving: Simple, safe, a little slow. In fact, really slow. But then again, the perception of slowness was probably amplified by the effects of that smell. So sweet . . . so coconutty . . . so sleep-inducing . . .

Overall rating: 3.5 extended arms.

-Natasha Julius

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