Chapter-15
An incident left an indelible imprint on my mind and I would like to recall it. While I was with Jerry and standing at my cab-store. I witnessed an incident.
A young gentleman was hurriedly passing us when he suddenly slipped over an orange-peel and fell down on earth, obviously with minor hurts.
Jerry had seen the man go down. He immediately ran to help him up and then led him inside a shop. As he came outside, he asked Jerry if he could take him to the railway station in the South-East Zone. He said he had to catch the twelve o’clock train and he was already late.
Jerry said, “Don’t worry! I will take you there, provided you are able to travel.”
But the man had to catch the train urgently and he was ready to pay an extra shilling.
I knew Jerry won’t agree to have an extra shilling but he helped the man on the cab and then said to me, “Come on Jack! We have to help him. I know you won’t step back.”
Then I began. Soon I was trotting fast, leaving all the rush behind. I moved as fast as I could. But I was stuck in the heavy traffic and cheapside.
The man sitting in the cab was quite disheartened to see the jammed road, so he said he would better go on foot.
Thankfully, I got a way to move forward and restarted on my way and reached the station, just eight minutes early.
Thanking Jerry and paying him, the man entered the station where Jerry hired a porter to carry the man’s luggage to the train Dover line.
Soon we were back at the cab-stand. But as we stopped, we saw other cab-drivers whispering in an audible voice that Jerry helped the man for half a crown. He didn’t do it for an extra shilling some days before.
On a sunny day, while Jerry was preparing me for the cab, a man came up to him. Jerry bowed in front of him respectfully. The man told Jerry that he wanted to hire Jerry to take Mrs Briggs every day to the New Church.
But Jerry couldn’t go against his routine, so he replied that he worked for six days a week.
Mr Briggs kept insisting on urging Jerry to alter his licence but he didn’t change his mind.
Eventually, Mr Briggs had to go back.
Jerry told Polly about the happening. He said that Mr Briggs was a good person and Jerry had always served him. By refusing the proposal, he feared he would lose a good customer.
But Polly, my mistress, said that she couldn’t see her husband work for all seven days of the week.
After a couple of weeks, I and Jerry returned and found Polly waiting at the door. She told Jerry that Mr Briggs had sent a servant to ask him to take up Mr. Briggs at eleven o’clock, the next day.
Mr Briggs couldn’t find another suitable cab-driver to pick her up or leave her back.
From the next day onwards, we served Mr Briggs except Sunday.
But one Sunday, while Jerry was busy cleaning the stable, Polly approached him with some news. She said that Dinah Brown had come to know that his mother was severely ill, so he had to go to see her as soon as possible. She had asked for help and urged if Jerry could drop him to the station.
Jerry stood thinking that his Sunday was going to be ruined.
But at that time, Polly was the one to speak in favour of the condition. She said, “If we want blessings, we should help others. I am sure if my mother was in her deathbed, I would have urged you to take me there.”
Finally, Jerry was ready to reach Dinah’s house at ten o’clock.
Asking for Mr Brayton’s trap for me, we set out towards our destination. I trotted merrily on the silent country roads.
When we reached the house of Dinah’s mother, I was left in the meadow to graze. The meadow was lavish green and I chewed on the green grass till I couldn’t have more. I enjoyed myself on the soft and cold grass in the basking sun.
It was a long time after which I had the opportunity to come to a field, so I didn’t want to lose the opportunity.
Soon we returned and found Polly and Dolly waiting there for us.
Jerry handed a bunch of wild flowers bound with ivy straps. She was so delighted to receive the present.
Then Jerry said, “We haven’t actually wasted our Sunday. The weather was calm and birds kept their and our spirits high so that we might come trotting all the way. Jack had his fill in the field.”
Even winter wasn’t bad for me with Jerry. Whenever Jerry and I stood at the cab-stand, Dolly got some hot soup and pudding for us that my mistress prepared.
Then one fine day, when Jerry was busy taking soup, a gentleman came up to him. Jerry handed the half emptied bowl back to Dolly. But the gentleman asked him to finish the soup first. So, he waited there. Then we started for Clapham Rise. He came down from the cab and paid Jerry. Just then, three men came out of the house to greet him. After patting me, he went inside with his pets. I was surprised at this gesture of the gentleman because it wasn’t often that anyone patted me.
Thereafter, the gentleman had become our permanent customer.
One day, we took him and his friend to Rye Street where he had to visit a shop.
While we waited, we found a pair of horses harnessed to a cart also waiting there. I thought they had been waiting for quite long because just then, they started moving forward. They had been waiting for their master in front of a brewery.
They hadn’t gone when the carter came out of the shop and ran to catch the cart. As he jumped onto the cart, he started whipping the horses badly. When the gentleman, who was to sit on our cab, saw this, he shouted at him and instructed him to stop whipping. He even warned the carter that he would lodge a complaint against him at the magistrate’s desk. But the carter cursed the gentleman. Being heavily drunk, he spat all the abusing words on our customer.
Logically, the gentleman wrote down the number of the cart in his notebook. By then, his friend had finished shopping; he came out. Looking at what was going on, he remarked, “Why don’t you leave people’s matter on the people? I guess you have better things to do.”
But Mr Wright replied, “This world is not a better place to live in; the only reason is the mean and stubborn nature of people living here.”
While we were going back to our house, Jerry said, “I knew Mr Wright was a gentleman.”
One day while I was standing with Jerry at the cab-stand, I noticed a chestnut mare strolling there. I thought I had seen her somewhere. To my great astonishment, she stared at me and said, “Hey Black Beauty!”
Then I remembered: she was my only friend whom I hadn’t met for years. She was none other than Ginger. Just as I was delighted at her sight, her condition brought tears in my eyes. She was no more a smart and good-looking mare. It seemed as if she hadn’t been fed or washed for days together.
The once lit-up face of Ginger was now so dull that I found it difficult to recognize her. All the glaze was gone.
She told me that after living at Earlshall for a year, she was sold to a gentleman who took good care of her.
But one day, he made her gallop so long that her back was severely strained and she could no longer withstand the weight. Thus she was resold and resold to many owners.
Now she had to work for the whole week and months without a break even on Sunday.
I thought she was still firm about her purpose, but she said that she couldn’t do anything to help herself out of the cruelty of her masters. She only wished to die a natural death and not to be slaughtered or shot.
I felt so bad for her. Then her master dragged the cab out with her.
One day, I saw a carriage carrying a dead mare. She was Ginger. Despite being sad, I was also happy that she was in peace now.
