Sports Arena

This one's from Saturday night. We got a three cab call to a residential address. It was me, one of our Iraqis, Ali, and Carey (the guy who thinks the owner may be putting red light tickets on a dead driver). We arrived early and stood around the street, smoking cigarettes. Three car-loads of guys in their early 20s came out of one of the houses and they all piled in. They were going to the Sports Arena, which is on Sports Arena Boulevard, naturally.

After we dropped ($26 fare plus $4 tip), Carey got on the radio and announced a lunch break. Technically we don't need to do that outside of our zone. You just don't go back for a while. Ali was right beside me, and before he turned off his interior light I saw that look in his eye.

I followed him out of the arena parking lot onto Sports Arena Blvd where we each made a left, heading back towards Pacific Highway. At Rosecrans he abruptly took a right and burned rubber -- literally. The snake thought he had a faster way back to our zone. So that's how it's gonna be, eh? I figured he would be taking Rosecrans up to Midway, then down to Barnett. (Google map.)

I sat in traffic and made my way by the shortest route to Pacific Highway, which means a right turn on Kurtz. When I got my chance to make the right turn onto the PCH I saw light traffic. I'll confess to giving the Falcon a bit more throttle than usual. I made it up to a decent speed, and came up to the place where Barnett merges onto the PCH. Ali had to have been coming that way. Sure enough, I saw his cab coming onto the highway at an enormous rate of speed. It's a sharp curve, and I'd say it was fortunate he's in a police interceptor. I'm not sure a standard Crown Vic would have made it.

Once it was established he hit the highway in front of me, we relaxed and ambled back to our zone (really). When we pulled into the Marriott cab stand, he was all smiles.