"What did you say, Mr. Hens?"

"I said that I would spend it on sumthin' else if I were you, doc." He replied as he leaned back to his seat.

"...Let's talk about this in my lab after the fuelbreak, son." Dr. Logan replied with his serious, low tone. "I am not mad, but I just want to talk to you about this."

'You mean you're really mad at me this time.' Dave thought. 'Aw, what the hell... I'll just spit some lies again like last time.'

He lit a cigar as he flew his old yellow-brown taxi across the buildings. Now the sun was completely set, and he could see the beauty of the glass orbs called "lightbulbs" all over the city. It looked like a bunch of Christmas lights, except for the spotlights on the top of the buildings and on the dark-gray clouds. He lowered his taxi as he saw a old lady on a dark platform.

"Where to, ma'am?"

"Downtown Mall, please." She replied in heavy and very formal tone.

Dave opened the passenger hatch and saw the short, thin figure stepping in and leaning her weight on the hard-plastic seat.

"Strap in, grandma." He threw a nasty smile at the side mirror as he talked to himself. He closed the passenger hatch and made a right turn towards the small spot where all the spotlights came from.

Now he was flying over the big-flat building with a sign that is as big as the building itself reading "Graba Beah n' Play" He could hear the loud and heavy music even inside the taxi.

"Young people these days," The old lady said as Dave realized that he had a passenger behind. "All they want to do is drink and play. They just don't know how to plan for their lives. If I were one of their parent, I would stop them from going to places like this."

"Well, ma'am. But there are some young people who knows how plan for their lives like myself. See, right now I'm doing it by..."

"Driving this damn taxi and spend the outcomes on drugs? Do you call that a good plan for your life? I don't think so, young man!"

"But ma'am, it will be better if you just let me finish my sentence. I don't do any drugs and I..."

"Then what kind of devilish thing do you do with your money, eh?" She interrupted again. "I don't give a shit about what kind of drugs you use or how you sneak out of your house to go to the sex parties like this! Everything I care about is that young people these days are all messed up and insane! I'm glad that I don't have to..."

"Would you shut the hell up, old lady??" Now Dave was the one who interrupted the conversation. "Well I don't give a shit about who the hell you are, and what kind of frckin' sonuva dog told you those stuff! By the way, you're..."

"I will call the Marines if you continue!" She said as she took out a little metal device from her odd-looking bag. "If you say that again, I will press this button and the Marines will arrest you!"

"Oh yeah? let's see if I give a shit about it! Go ahead and push it! I have nothing left to lose now!!"

Dave smiled inside his head as the old lady's face turned to the bright-red. "I want to leave NOW!"

"Who told you not to, freak?" He mumbled more words as he docked his taxi on one of the metal gates next to the building. And then he forced his finger to the passenger hatch button.

"I can't go in THERE!" The old lady said as she undid the seatbelts.

"Why not?"

"This is a Hotel! They'll make fun of me if I go in there!"

'Hotel...' Dave thought. Hotels used to be a place where travelers slept in for few days, but now it turned into a heaven for showgirls, bed queens and those men who were willing to spend their hard-earned money for such "almost illegal" activities.

"Well, sucks to be you, old one." He said as he landed his finger on the passenger hatch button. "The door's closin'. Better start movin'."

She looked at Dave's face. Then she walked towards the closing hatch. She lowered her head as she cursed loudly.

Dave sighed, cussing under his breath. Then he flew his taxi higher. The clock was flashing 7:02 PM. Just few more hours to go.

He sighed again, flying his taxi close to the speed limit but somewhat higher than that. He watched one of the spotlights flashing towards him. Dave could see the spotlights clearly now.

"Old people these days..." He said as the speed-limit light flashed a warning-red.

|| End of Chapter I ||