Memoirs of a Rideshare Driver: The Age of John Lennon
Episode 17 in a series of true rideshare stories
"Must be about ninety now," he says, out of nowhere, after such a long silence that I’d forgotten anyone was sitting back there.
Assuming he is talking about the weather, I glance at my car’s temperature reading and tell him, "Eighty-two."
"Eighty-two..." he repeats, taken aback. "Yeah, I guess I'd buy that. What was the name of the one who got shot?"
I'm confused for a long moment before I realize The Beatles are playing on the radio. "Oh. Uh... John Lennon?"
"That’s right. So he would be eighty-two..."
I'm suddenly aware I completely misinterpreted “eighty-two” but this guy starts talking and doesn’t stop. He goes on about how young John Lennon was when he died and how crazy it is to think of all the music we might have gotten if he were alive today and eighty-two. I don't have the heart to tell him that I actually have no idea how old John Lennon would be today; I just know that it's eighty-two degrees outside. So we chat about hypothetical eighty-two-year-old John Lennon until I drop him off.
As soon as he's out of sight, I grab my phone and look up how old John Lennon would be today. By sheer coincidence, he'd be eighty-two this week.
Fuckin' nailed it.
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.