Back in the 80's, when I was driving a taxi in San Diego for a shit cab company that specialized in drunks and hookers and local shysters from the other side of the tracks, I often found myself in what might be referred to as bad sections of town. When someone hailed me or I answered a radio call in the wee hours of the morning, I was always ready and willing. With a $35 lease to pay every day, I wasn't about to turn any trip down. A fare is a fare and a buck is a buck. Anyway, with a wife and daughter depending on me, I decided I better take out a term life insurance policy on myself for $500 thousand just in case my eagerness to answer a call some night wound up getting me smoked. At the time, five hundred grand seemed like a respectable wad of cash.
So, this one night I was pulled over by a couple cops because my fare had the backdoor cracked open and they feared he was about to pull something shady. Well, as it turned out I didn't get killed but looking back, I think that if that young man had put a bullet thru my head that would've been a pretty good time to check out, a lot better than dying in old age of a combination of diseases and conditions. Everybody would've been young and well taken care of and, after a few tearful days, able to move on in comfort. I'm just saying.
