It was shortly after midnight, just after a movie, my girlfriend and I took a stroll to enjoy the cool morning. The morning had an ambiance of romance, and we didn’t feel like parting company just yet.
After some walking, we thought it would be nice to go for ice-cream so we hailed a tricycle taxi and hopped in. We asked the driver to take us to St Bernadette Street. To our surprise, he refused. When we asked him why, he told us he had an encounter with a ghost once when driving through St Bernadette Street.
We were so intrigued that we took a joy ride instead. We listened attentively while he told us this story:
“With a best friend, Sunny, I would take rides along St Bernadette Street to pick up passengers. Sunny was a fun guy to be with. He would tell me many jokes and make our work fun. One night, I'll remember this for the rest of my life...” The driver said with a tear trickling down from his left eye.
My girlfriend and I looked at each other and felt guilt building up but said nothing. Maybe it will do him good to talk, we thought. But actually, we both were yearning to hear more, and waited for him to continue.
Wiping the tear away, he asked, “You sure you want to hear my sad story, I don’t want to bore you with it?”
We nodded enthusiastically. “Of course we do." I said. "Unless it bothers you to talk about it, then we’d….”
Before I could continue, he interrupted. “No, it’s no bother. Actually, I appreciate your interest. Ok, so where was I? Oh yes! Sunny.”
“You see, there was this lady all dressed in white, she smiled at Sunny and Sunny struck a conversation with her."
Sunny’s like that you know." He said to me and carried on.
"She — was a beautiful woman, very beautiful. Sunny then asked her what she was doing all alone at that time of the night.”
Then, with his eyebrows raised, palm up as he pointed his hand at us to emphasize the next sentence, the driver said.“ You know, this was around 2 am and she was all alone.” He paused, shook his head, then continued.
“She replied to Sunny that she was lost and confused. She didn’t know why she was wandering about. Sunny asked her where she wanted to go and she replied, ‘home.’ Sunny, without asking where her home was, offered her a ride - he invited her into his tricycle and she got in."
The driver looked at me and said. "Sunny turned and looked at me – with that look you give when you are about to score big – you know."
Realising my girlfriend there, he bashfully said, "Err..it’s a man thing.”
I looked at my girlfriend and we smiled. I saw how absorbed she was in the story and kissed her on the cheek; she was totally oblivious to it.
Then, our driver just stared into the distance, forgotten we were there, I thought. Hated being left in suspense, my girlfriend asked while trying to hide her impatience. “So what happened?”
Jolted out of rapt, he blurted. “What? Oh! Sorry. Well, Sunny rode away…and….err…he turned the corner up ahead.” He paused.
Another tear rolled down his cheek. We didn’t push him that time. There was a silence and we thought we’d better just leave it at that. We slid back in our seat. I put my arm over my girlfriend's shoulder, our heads leaned and rested on each other’s.
We sat like that and in complete silence for almost a minute as we enjoyed the slow cold wind in our faces. Then, the driver suddenly stopped paddling. He turned to look at us and I saw in his face, a man burdened with unanswered questions.
He finally said in a soft voice. “She was no where! It had been only seconds and she disappeared! I didn’t see her walking away or anything! You know.”
He sounded and looked like he was blaming himself for something.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and came to presence of mind. He let out a sigh and said, ”There was an accident. Sunny’s tricycle was crushed and broken to pieces right before my eyes. I rushed to him and…and…he was bleeding from the head. He muttered a few words but I couldn't understand. Then he..., he was dead!”
He looked at me with the eyes of a very frightened man. He then said, ”And the girl? She just disappeared! I looked for her but she was nowhere to be found! She was a ghost!
He paused. He rubbed his arms for goose bumps had formed, and started to sob.
"A ghost!” he muttered to himself.
We looked at each other, I gripped my girlfriend's hand tight.
He took us to a cafe and we invited him to join us for coffee but he politely refused and rode away a tortured soul.
Credits:
Junior & Evoly,
25 Feb 2003
