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Remembering the Garlic

For us cabdrivers, inclement weather both giveth and taketh away. On the one hand, fewer people venture out when it rains; on the other, those who do brave the weather take more cabs. Yes, I’m talking...

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Bona Fide Strawberry Blonde

“It is beautiful up here!” my customer gushed from the shotgun seat as we motored along the highway en route to Stowe. She was a young, stylishly dressed professional with Twizzler-red lips and a full,...

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Rain, Rain, Go Away

Daniel March’s plane was due in at 11:20 p.m. but touched down well after midnight. Earlier in the day, the landing gear had failed on a Southwest Airlines jet coming into LaGuardia, resulting in a...

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The New Jersey Alphabet

I glanced to my side to observe a short, stocky, fortysomething guy wearing a billowy white cotton shirt. His pate appeared clean-shaven. This is a dude who can pull off that look, I thought. I’m bald...

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So Funny

A man and two women drifted over to my cab as I trolled the streets of downtown Burlington. One of the women and the man jumped into the backseat. The remaining woman made a move to get in the front,...

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Runners

The college students are present in Burlington for about three-quarters of the year. When they’re away during the summer, the town is a very different place. Whether it’s better or worse is arguable,...

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Choosing Burlington

“Whew! That was a memorable first night out on the town, wasn’t it?” “Hey, girl — all’s well that ends well, right?” The two women talking to each other in the back of my taxi were young, bright-eyed...

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A Little Ditty About Jack and Diane

“You know, Bushey is a big Vermont name,” I said to a customer sitting beside me in my taxi. We had just crossed over onto the islands en route to a drop-off at the Plattsburgh ferry. The day was sunny...

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Frenemies

It was five minutes past the scheduled pickup time, and I was worried. I should have pinned this down earlier when I took the call, I thought, castigating myself as I sat idling in front of Hotel...

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Harper Visits Vermont

The late-afternoon call came in from Majestic Car Rental on the Shelburne Road rotary. Majestic is one of the local businesses — a small group mostly composed of restaurants and bars — that contact me...

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Delightful Guys

The couple entering my taxi was in high spirits; a Saturday night in B-town has that effect on people. The guy was toting a bulging sausage sandwich, glistening and greasy. The thing smelled like death...

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Songbird in Winter

Sunday is my one day off, except when I work on Sunday, which is most of the time. Perhaps I should quit saying that I’m off on Sundays, but that would be too depressing — the recognition that I work...

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Forty-Two Years

On this unseasonably warm afternoon, the customers in the backseat of my taxi were impeccably dressed — not chic, but classic. Byung wore a black suit, cream-colored shirt and light purple tie fastened...

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Holiday Party

It was the Thursday before Christmas, and I was invited to a holiday party. I’m not, by nature, a party animal, but I was looking forward to this one. It was being held at Hotel Vermont, from 6 to 10...

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Feelings

“Where are you, Jernigan? Middlebury, Montréal, Stowe?” Linda, a regular customer, was quizzing me on my whereabouts. The last couple of times she’d called for a ride, she caught me out of town with...

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The Land Down Under

“So, Montpelier is pretty small for a state capital?” The customer sitting next to me in my taxicab, Joanna Dunwright, was short and pert, with shoulder-length, ruler-straight blond hair. As she spoke,...

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