AcmeShorts

"Would you like to know what the words to this song mean?" asks the Cab Driver. "Sure," I say. He sings along with the song in his native tongue and says, "My girl and I, we are so in love, it is a wonderful thing to be in love." He looks at me in the rearview mirror and smiles, then drums his fingers along the dash. "And we will fly to the moon and look at the stars, because we are in love with each other." Somehow I'm caught up in the whimsy of his delivery. The bright eyes dancing, the smile, even the crooked teeth are charming, and he laughs between lines. A violin tiptoes into the song and plays countermelody to the piano. He sings a few more lines and says, "We are so in love, we are dancing on the moon, and the stars light our way, and we make love with each other." He moves his head back and forth in time with the music, adjusting his glasses as they slip down his nose after an energetic air piano solo. The cab stops at the corner of 76th and Amsterdam. The Cab Driver turns the music down as he pushes the "Time Off" button. "That will be $5.70 for your singing cab driver," he says. I hand him a twenty through the partition. He squints at it and looks at me in the mirror. "And what is this?" he shouts, his demeanor changing in about half a second. "Always people giving me twenties! I start work today with $180 in singles, and now look!" He takes a wad of cash from his shirt pocket. "One, two, three...all twenty dollar bills!" "I--" "Only eleven singles! Am I a bank?" Very quietly, I say, "May I have twelve back, please?" He shoves some bills into my hand through the partition. I look at the cash and see that he's counted incorrectly, giving me fourteen. As God is my witness, I don't know what to do.