Simon jerked the steering wheel to one side and then the other, as he careened down West Street. Following several minutes behind, Jennifer couldn’t help fearing for her father’s safety and pleaded for her driver to pick up the pace. At the sight of an amber signal, she yelled: “There’s an extra fifty in it for you if you run that light!”
Jennifer endured the hair-raising drive up front, while Susan and Rose tested the parameters of elegance in the back. The three of them closed their eyes as the fifty was earned.
“I’ve got an extra hundred if you blow through the rest,” Susan shouted. Glancing between her compatriots, she added: “I’ll expense it to my blog.”
Jennifer pulled her phone from her purse and connected with her father. With one hand bracing against the dash, she ignored her turbulent ride and hollered into her cellphone: “Dad. What’s wrong?” Each comment was followed by silence. “What d’ya mean, Sophia’s …?”
She bent over slightly as her cab bounced through a bumpy section of road. “Do you want me to call the police?” Again, she listened to her father. Jennifer turned toward the back seat and found Rose and Susan quietly pleading for an explanation. “Ok, ok,” she said into the phone. “But we’re on our way over.” Another pause. “We’re right behind you … in a cab.” Jennifer peered out the front windshield and winced as their driver turned a blind eye to another red light. “Yes, we’re … No, Dad, don’t hang up. Dad, listen to me…” She dropped her phone into her lap and glanced between Rose and Susan. “He says if we come to the office, we’re not to come up.”
The three women looked as though they were at a loss for words. The cabbie, however, was not. “You’re going to shell out all this money only to watch from the sidelines?”
“The hell we are!” Susan exclaimed.
The driver’s smile flashed in the rear-view mirror.
“Wait a second,” Jennifer said. “I’ve been to my Dad’s office before.”
Susan added: “So have I.”
“We should be able to get to the 90th at least,” Rose stated.