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Raindrops on the window were wiped them away by a windshield. To the annoyance of the taxi driver, this process repeated every few minutes. Not to mention, the roads were heavily crowded with various other vehicles and for the past hour, his taxi had barely moved 100 metres away from its original position.
Earlier this morning, his wife had nagged at him to bring an umbrella and warned him to not be late for their family dinner as their darling son would finally visit for Thanksgiving. Of course, he did not bring an umbrella because he never did. What did it matter if you were drenched from the rain? The solution was so simple - just change out of your wet clothes into new ones and clean the dirty ones. Besides, it was fun walking or running in the rain without any sort of covering over your head. However, the hapless driver doubted that coming home drenched from the rain would anger his wife; it would be coming horribly late for their family dinner, which he already was.
Frustration got the better of him and he pressed on the honk hard and for a long duration. In response, honks from other various vehicles sounded. He let out a sigh and pressed his head on his steering wheel. It was going to be a long night.
A loud knock on his car window jolted him awake. He raised his head and frantically looked around to pinpoint the source of disturbance. There was now soft rapping on the glass which successfully caught his attention and he glanced at the uniformed person outside his taxi.
Well, shit.
A police officer was standing outside his taxi. The taxi driver lowered his window and briefly glanced at his surroundings. It looked like he was not on the busy roads anymore. No, his taxi was now parked in an alley with improperly disposed rubbish and it caused a major stench that invaded his nostrils. Trying his best not to puke his lunch out, he forced a smile at the police officer, praying hard that he would not get into trouble. At least, not a big one.
Luckily for him, the police officer was only concerned for him as he found him resting against his steering wheel and feared that he had fainted or worse, died. The taxi driver assured the kind policeman that he was perfectly alright and thanked the man for the concern. Minutes after the policeman left, a soft sigh escaped the taxi driver and glanced down at his lap.
A small envelope was perched on his lap. At first, he thought it was random but as he picked the light document, he found his name scrawled in the middle of it. Once again, he glanced at his surroundings, as if the person who sent him the envelope would still be there.
Since it was clearly addressed to him, he hastily tore the envelope and shook a folded piece of paper out. It was a heavy parchment and despite such a huge white background, only a few sentences handwritten in black ink filled the middle of the page. There was also a coin attached at the bottom of the page, as if a superglue was used to stick it firmly on it.
"Old man, you owe me one. Find me or all your dark secrets will be revealed to the world. And hold on tight to the lucky penny. You're going to need it."
Indeed, it was a cryptic letter. If it was all an elaborate joke, he could not tell. Whatever it was, he decided to push the matter aside and head home before his wife call him to ask for his whereabouts.
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