WILY WISEGUY – II

By: Ely Lagajino

Do not be afraid of them for I am with you, and will rescue you, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:8 (NIV)

The drunkard can easily throw me a punch at the city where traffic jammed.  If it happened I would have shifted to plan C which is to stop the tricycle at the center of the road. It would cause heavy traffic and I would shout, “A drunk hit me!” Surely he would receive punches from angry tricycle and jeepney drivers, but the drunk seemed wiser, he kept still and never attempted. So I asked him, “Where are you going down?”

He pointed towards a straight direction.

Upon reaching the place, he pointed to another direction outside the city leading to a rice field area.  I suspected danger. “I will use my last plan to take him to the police station”.

I veered the tricycle around and sped. The large man commanded me to change direction, but I continued driving without telling him where we were heading. When we reached a crossing, I needed to turn right to the police station but at about ten meters away, a crowd of pedestrians forced us to stop. I found a small gap so I sped and turned right towards the police station.

I called the attention of the police officer standing outside and reported to him that my drunk passenger abused my lady passenger. The policeman asked, “Where is he?” When I pointed to my sidecar he was gone.

“Sorry sir”, I stammered frantically, “perhaps he left the sidecar when we stopped at the pedestrian crossing”, was all I could say.

“Don’t worry, when the lady files a complaint you will be the star witness”, the police officer assured me with a chuckle. For a moment, I thank God, for keeping me and my passengers safe throughout the road trip and for taking that horrible large man out of my life. Afterward, all I could do was scratch my head thinking of the income I lost, hoping not to pick-up beautiful ladies and drunkard passengers again, as I sped away.