MONOLOGUE
Good afternoon to you, K'vod Harav.
Thank you, I hope it WILL be a good afternoon. I've had a
lousy morning. I had a ride all the way to Neve Yaakov, which
isn't bad, but I drove around there for twenty minutes and
couldn't find anyone willing to come back to town. You're my
first pickup.
Of course, I know parnosso is from Heaven. Who better
than me! I live it day by day. But you know how it is, people
can't help grumbling once in a while.
Talking about money from Heaven, I've got to tell you what
happened to me just the other day; you won't believe it. No,
YOU surely will, K'vod Harav, but I'm still reeling...
I got up in the morning with hardly any zest to go through
the day. You see, I owed someone $100 and had to pay it back
that very day. Where in the world was I going to lay my hands
on $100? Some people think that cabbies rake in the money all
day long, but that isn't so at all. Anyway, here I was,
cruising the streets, trying to pick up some passengers and
feeling really down in the dumps, when a couple hails me
down.
I could tell from the distance that they were tourists and
when they got in, I saw the cross the woman was wearing. But
so what, a fare is a fare. I took them to the Rennaisance and
they paid me and even gave me a small tip, which put me in a
better mood, but, Kvod Harav, I still needed a big
yeshua.
A few blocks down, another passenger stops me and climbs in.
"Hey, someone left a briefcase here in the back," he tells
me. I have him pass it up to me and leave it on the front
seat. A while later, a cell phone begins beeping. I take it
out of its special compartment and answer it.
"Is that the cabbie? Oh, good. . .So you see, I left my
briefcase by you. I need it very badly. Can you deliver it to
me immediately at the hotel?" he asks, very distraught.
I told him I'd be happy to but that I was already at the
other end of town and that it would cost him thirty
shekel.
"No problem, just get it to me. I'll give you a bonus, how's
that?"
So after I dropped my passenger off, I drive over to the
hotel. Sure enough, he's waiting for me there, looking very
fidgety. He grabs the case from me and opens it up. I see
piles and piles of money in it. After he reassures himself
that everything seems to be alright, he takes one bundle of
bills, strips off the top one and hands it to me.
"Is that O.K. with you?"
I nodded, unable to speak, a pretty rare thing for me, but
there in my hand lay a $100 bill!
He snapped the top closed and went inside. A few Arab drivers
who had been hanging around the hotel, waiting for business,
sauntered up to me and said, "Man, you're crazy! How come you
didn't open the case back in the cab and keep it all for
yourself!"
I'm happy to say that the idea didn't even occur to me.
Besides, as I said before, K'vod Harav, I know
parnosso is from Heaven, and since all I needed that
day was that $100, that's what I got, and Todah l'Kel
for that! Now how's that for a story?
EPILOGUE
If the cabbie might still have been wondering, that day, why
he hadn't picked up a passenger in Neve Yaakov and only
gotten one at Shimon Hatzaddik, in front of Yeshivas Ohr
Somayach, the Rosh Yeshiva can answer that one.
It's so he could tell the story to his wife, and Yours Truly
could publicize it for the benefit of YATED readers!
So there! A $100 story!
