the new and distant driver

She got into the taxi and was shocked to see an African driver, instead of her usual Asian one. Shocked is an overstatement. She just wasn’t expecting it. She wasn’t used to change. She thought to herself for a split second: ‘am I racist?’ She knew she wasn’t but she still questioned it, just like everything else in life.  

To break the awkward silence as she got into the car, she said with excitement: ‘your car smells like cherries!’ This just made the silence more awkward, as the man didn’t respond.

As the new and distant driver started driving, he, too, could feel the silence. So he decided to turn the radio on to fill in the gaps of what he thought could have been a shit conversation with a customer he’d never see again.

OG African music started playing. He instantly changed the channel. From afrobeat to British news.

Why did he change it? Was he embarrassed of the music he liked? Was he embarrassed of his culture, his heritage? Did he think she would be disgusted by it? If only he knew how much she liked and appreciated this genre. If only he knew she was going to see Femi Kuti at a festival the next day.

He pulls up just before her house and turns the radio off. She pays him the usual - £4.50, and exits the vehicle.

She hears him turn the radio on again. Not British news this time.