In Between Fares
A Conversation About Life & Death In A NYC Taxi Cab
The Lower East side was frozen today. I hailed a cab to escape the cold. We drove a few blocks until the driver said something about death and the open sea. Not a usual thing to hear from a cabbie I turned off my music and listened.
The driver was named Michael. He is a part time cab driver and tugboat operator. Having grown up on the water I was intrigued to hear more.
He told me a story where he fell overboard 5 miles off shore in the middle of February. He lost 4 degrees of body heat and suffered from hypothermia. The scariest part— it all happened at night.
Michael had to knock ice off navigation lights. His captain didn’t want him out there too long. Michael ended up falling 20 feet into the water. His submersible radio hit the deck on the way down, destroying it completely. When he saw the boat wasn’t turning around he began to pray and make peace with the fact that these were his last minutes on earth. In water that is between 32.5°- 40°exhaustion or unconsciousness can happen in 15 to 30 minutes. After he asked God to look after his kids, he noticed the boat was changing course. It was turning back for him. He spun his emergency strobe the best he could but his upper body was freezing up, the lower half was nearly frozen solid.
The crew threw him a line. One crewman said he was delusional. Michael yelled out, “I’m not delusional, I’m freezing!” He fought the ocean as he reached for the line floating atop what looked like a sea of black ink. As soon as his hands wrapped around the yellow and blue line he blacked out.
They ended up getting him back on the boat after nearly 18 minutes. The crewmen stripped him down and tossed him in the hot shower below deck. He couldn’t get warm though. The captain came down screaming at him. He heard his name in muffled tones. He saw the captain staring at him.
Michael smiled, “Give us a kiss will ya?”
The captain yelled back, “You son of a bitch you’re gonna live.”
“I am?” Michael replied, still shivering. “Why’s that?”
“Because you still got your sense of humor you bastard.” The captain smiled.
This is just one of the stories Michael told me on our ride together. He’s written hundreds of crazy vignettes from his professions on and off the water. One involving a car chase down 9th avenue and another of a man trying to pay a $50 fare in aluminum cans. Michael showed me a tattered memo pad as proof. Only in New York.
Michael’s writing a book in between fares. Titled: Tugboats & Taxis. When he told me this I wished I was a publisher. This is what inspired me about Michael. He tells his story to anyone that will listen in hopes (I imagine) that one day one of his passengers will be a publisher or a screenwriter. Michael doesn’t care about the odds. New York City’s yellow taxis move 230 million passengers a year. That’s 600,000 each day— 25,000 an hour. With more than 1,300 individual taxis out there Michael ignores these figures and tells his story to every passenger. One day he’ll bag the elephant.
Michael’s resilience made me think about my own entrepreneurial endeavors. I see the value in telling everyone about your ideas whether it’s for profit or not. Because it doesn’t matter if 1,000 people don’t care, you just need 1 person to show interest. And that’s enough to keep going forward.
Keep your eyes open for that book in the future. I’m sure it will be a hit. Next time you flag a cab in Manhattan maybe it’ll be Michael. And if it is, you’re in for one hell of a ride.
**UPDATE**
(Oct. 12)— Michael’s book can now be found on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Tugboats-Taxis-NYC-Michael-Scanlon/dp/1634170873
