A Scandal of Sorts - Ch 5

We walked out of the plane into the heat of Barcelona. A few minutes later, we had taken a taxi and were on our way to Hotel Gloria. I took out the Spanish dictionary from my bag and asked the driver in Spanish, ‘How much time to the hotel?’ The driver turned around. I had seen that face before. I skidded through my memory searching for the solution. Where had I seen him? The face looked familiar. Where?

‘Just a couple of minutes, sir, and you’re there.’

Before I could ask him where he was from, he halted the taxi in front of the hotel, and drove off really fast. Strange, I thought. Something wasn’t right. Did the taxi driver pick me up from the airport on purpose, so he could know my whereabouts? That is justified from the fact that he realized that I saw something familiar in his face and drove off before we could even pay the fare. Let’s get to the bottom of this, I thought.

The next morning, I rode to the taxi headquarters in the city and inquired about the taxi, whose number I had observed when the circumstances seemed curious to me. The manager there showed me the photograph of the taxi driver. Surprisingly enough, the man’s face differed from the one I had seen in the taxi. The taxi must have been stolen.

‘Did this man, the taxi driver, come to work today?’

‘He surely did. Why are you asking?’

‘Nothing. Did he come yesterday?’

‘No, mister, he was on leave.’

‘That explains a lot.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I told you, nothing. I’m new here, you see. Just wanted to know how this system works.’

Before the man could ask another question, I walked out of the office. ‘Taxi!’ I called. I looked at the number. It was the same number which I had been inquiring about! I got into the taxi and told the driver, who wasn’t the one I had seen before, my destination, thinking, I will not lose this chance. ‘Did anything strange happen yesterday? With the taxi?’

‘Why, sir?’

‘Just answer.’

‘I don’t know if it was indeed, but yesterday evening I looked out the window and noticed that my taxi wasn’t there! It had vanished! I didn’t seem to notice it right then. Afterwards, I thought about it and looked at the driveway. It was there, safe and sound. Just a trick of the eyes, I guess.’

‘A trick of the eyes, don’t think so. But a trick? Yes, indeed.’