Fourteen Steps to Nowhere

Writing Prompt #3

The heat outside was palpable even with the air conditioner running at full blast and I glanced warily at my grocery bags in the back seat of the cab.  The meat delivery hadn't come to the restaurant that day, so I had gone to the finest butcher and bought as much beef, pork, chicken, duck and lamb as I could afford.  Now, stuck in traffic, I grew concerned.

I watched pedestrians sweat as they walked by, shoulders slumped as the heat sapped them.  Down a side street I could a fire hydrant gushing into the sky and children dancing under it.  Even adults stood under its rain in this heat.

The cabbie's cursing brought me back to the reality in the taxi, and I watched him blare down on his horn.  We hadn't moved an inch in fifteen minutes.  I watched as his right hand suddenly moved from the wheel towards the control panels.

My mouth dropped in horror, "What are you doing?" I demanded.  He stopped and looked at me blankly for a second.

"Lady, the car's overheating," he said and turned the car's air conditioning off and the heat on.

"You fucking maniac!" I screamed at the cabbie.

He averted his eyes for a second, swallowed, and calmly said, "Madam, unless you have a better way to prevent the engine from overheating I must do this.  It will draw the heat away from engine.  I will open the windows to make the ride more beareable." The windows buzzed open and, like a wall, the heat crashed into the car.

I felt it drawing away my breath for the first horrible instant and turned around to stare at my bags of meat trying to estimate how long they could last if I tried to find another cab, or worse yet, if I tried to walk the rest of the way to the restaurant.

"You don't understand," I said desperately, "My bags are full of meat!" I gestured towards the back.  "I have to get it to my restaurant for tonight." I told him.

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