Memoirs of a Rideshare Driver: The Believer
Episode 9 in a series of true rideshare stories
He's asking about the job of being a rideshare driver. Do I meet weird people? Does it suck sometimes? Who was the worst passenger? Who was the best? What was the craziest thing that happened?
I tell him about the UFO abductee — the woman coming from the "UFO Convention" who told me she was abducted by a flying saucer piloted by a being that turned out to be herself from the future. That’s a go-to story in situations like this. It’s short and sweet and people usually get a laugh out of it.
At first, this man is amused, then he shakes his head and sighs. “You know, I laugh, but… It's a big universe. There's gotta be stuff out there we don't know about."
"Oh sure,” I say. “I bet there’s life out there. But I'm not sure I buy that they come here. And if they do, I'm not sure I buy that they abduct people. And if they do, I'm not sure I buy that they bring them back afterward. And even if they do all of that, I still don't think the woman who got abducted by her future self was one of them."
"Yeah, but, like, so many people have stories. Why would they all have stories if there wasn't something?"
"No, I know what you mean, I just-"
"Or, like, ghosts, you know?"
"Well, ghosts are a different subject. I don’t know if-“
"Or Bigfoot..."
“Well, I definitely can’t go along with-"
"...or zombies, vampires..."
“Wait, you believe in zombies and vampires?”
"...or, like, dragons. Why would there be paintings and statues of dragons if they never existed? People wouldn't just think of that. It's like, there's gotta be something. You ever think about that?"
I nod, silently noting that the next time I tell a passenger the story of the UFO abductee, there is going to be an epilogue about the dragon/vampire theorist. And that might segue nicely into the story of the guy who seemed to think I was a vampire. There's a whole shared-world anthology developing.
Memoirs of a Rideshare Driver is a series that tells true stories of my 10,000+ trips as a rideshare driver. I will post them every Monday.