Rural Living

I am in the town of Port Hope for the weekend. The Boy and I arrived by train last night. It was raining when we got off the train.

I looked for a cab to take us to our destination. There was a taxi van in the parking lot, with a passenger already on board. Another couple on the platform was also looking for a cab. The man walked over to the taxi van driver and had a little chat with him. When he walked back to the platform, I asked him if he had asked the driver to phone in for a cab. He said yes. I said I better get over and ask him to call one in for me as well. The man just hollered over to the driver, Hey, make that two, as if he was ordering a hamburger.

The driver asked where we were going, then agreed to take us if we were willing to share the cab with its current passenger. I said sure and The Boy and I climbed on board, now warm and dry inside the cab.

A new cab showed up almost immediately and took the couple on the platform while the taxi van driver went into the train station. He came back and we were all set to go. Except we didn't.

The driver tried several times to start his cab. It wouldn't go. After a few minutes, he phoned in to his office to report that his car had died. Laura at the other end could be heard saying in a slow drawl, "Well, I guess we better find some cables and send a car out for you."

A few minutes later, when no car showed up, the driver called in again. Laura said in her slow drawl, "Yup, we found some cables. I tried to get you Denis but he's not answering. He's the only other cab out there tonight."

The driver went to the front of the car and lifted the hood, looked in with a flashlight, and scratched his head. He came back into the car and said, "Beats me what's wrong." Our fellow passenger looked around and said, "Jim, I see two people in the station right now. Should anyone be in there?"

Jim said, "What? I just locked up. How could that be?"

The passenger said, "You think I'm lying to you or something? I see two people in there."

The Boy and I looked into the station window and see two people moving about. "Yes, there are two people in there," we confirmed.

Jim jumped out of the cab and walked over to the station. Our fellow passenger started laughing. She said, "It wouldn't be the first time someone gets locked in the station."

I said, "You mean the taxi driver holds the key to the town's train station?"

"Yes, the cab company has the contract to open and lock up the station each day. A friend of mine has been locked in there a few times when she used the washroom."

"You mean the taxi driver is responsible for opening and locking up the train station?" I said, not hiding my disbelief very well. My fellow passenger laughed again, "You don't live in Port Hope, do you?"

The driver then came back and said, "It's okay. It's the cleaning crew."

The cab that took the couple away now came back. The driver got out. "Oh, it's the owner of the company," said my fellow passenger. The drivers conferred, attached the cable, and tried to start the car but to no avail. The taxi van was dead. The owner said to the driver, "Take my car and take these people home. No charge, they've been inconvenienced long enough."

"The poor guy," said my fellow passenger to me, "this is the third cab that's died on him this week."

Why do I find this experience so enchanting, in a town that someone once dubbed Port Hopeless?