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In the Taxi of Misplaced Confidence, WITH: Photographic Evidence · 14 January 09

I walked alone to Kellogs Diner, God-awful Early in the Morn

The taxi driver asked me where I was headed.

“Williamsburg,” I said. “I have an address, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the area.”

“Know how to get there?”

“Ah, sorry, not really.”

“Know what exit?”

“No. Sorry, maybe I should find another cab.” A line of other taxis waited behind us.

He started the engine and the meter. “Try to remember,” he said, and we pulled out of the airport parking lot.

A monitor in the back of the cab showed a split screen: the morning news, a bunch of banner ads and our position on GPS. (* ) No directions or nav, just a sprite superimposed on streets.

I tried to work out how to get to the place where we were staying. But it had been too long. The screen felt like a map of a video game I’d never played.

We pulled into Williamsburg and circled around a bit. The driver pulled over and gave some change to a homeless man, but he didn’t know how to get their either.

The sun wasn’t out yet. It had been snowing. I kept feeling that I was close. I kept almost remembering.

I couldn’t quite, though, and the meter was running. I asked him to let me out.

“You sure you’ll be okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. He had no reason to believe me.

I walked around until I found my old neighborhood. I made a few lucky guesses. No one was out. Williamsburg is dead on a Sunday before sunrise. It was my first time being alone so far on the trip home and the nostalgia hit me.

I saw Kellog’s Diner. It was lonely and nice. I stopped to take a picture. I thought I could make it home from there.

( * ) This of course makes one wonder why the taxi driver himself was unequipped with GPS nav. More important for driver than passenger, right? Possible explanations welcome.

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