
I was staying at an old house in the countryside outside of London.
I was visited by two of my cousins who arrived exhausted by their journey from the US, so I set mattresses out on the living room floor and they fell fast asleep.
I took my blanket and pillow and went back to the room where I’d been staying and switched on the light but it flickered so I switched it off and went to bed.
I woke up a few hours later and was picked up by a London black cab and proceeded to drive back to Chicago.
I stretched myself up every now and then to check the fare on the meter and when the Chicago skyline became visible the meter was nearing twenty pounds, which was a relief seeing how I only had forty dollars in cash, though I was pretty sure I could have paid with my bank card.
As we approached the city, the driver asked if I could point out the John Hancock building amongst the skyscrapers that were lighting up the darkening sky.
Just then I noticed the driver was driving on the left side and I asked him how he did that. He told me it was a specially made cab designed for trips to America.
I asked him when he switched over and he laughed at me for being so gullible.
He said he’d been driving on the left side since the moment he picked me up in London, that the cabs going to America were all left-hand drive, though I was certain—and told him I’d bet my life savings—that when we started the journey he was driving on the right.
Asking me in jest how I’d like to make that payment, he handed me his phone and asked me to tap in my address, which I did beginning with the post code 60645.
I took the two twenty dollar bills that I had sat on the seat next to me and folded then and put them into my shirt pocket alongside a small booklet the driver had given me with his contact details.
I asked him how much the pick-up supplement would be and he said not to worry that it was included in the fare.
I told him I would be staying in Chicago for two weeks then heading back to central London, as opposed to going back to the countryside.
We pulled up outside my parent’s apartment on Washtenaw and I handed the driver the two twenties and told him to keep the change. The fare was thirty dollars and eighty cents.
Then I woke up.
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