Vampire Days

Chapter 44: Experiences and Cabbages

We got lucky with the taxi driver who seemed to treat his job as a way to practice for a drag race. He asked if we were up for a Car Chase Experience and Austin said "Hell yeah!" and I didn't have any problem with it so the driver gave a piercing hoot like a Mexican mariachi before dashing off to the nighttime traffic.

Austin snickered while showing me the "Experience Menu" the driver handed us. The menu offered something like Hearse Experience, Standard Experience, Student Driver Experience, Lose The Surveillance Experience and The Longest Way Possible Experience. 

"Come on, ask for his contact info," Austin whispered, clinging to my arm like a child begging for a new toy.

"I'm not helping you cheat on me."

"It would be like cheating if I was the one to ask, that's why you should do it."

"Why do you need his info?" I whispered back, feigning annoyance.

"We need a getaway driver! And I wanna try all his offers! Please~" Austin said, eyes sparkling with excitement. I flicked his forehead before I cleared my throat to get the driver's attention.

"Uhm, could we get your contact info, Sir?" I asked the driver in a much louder voice. He glanced at me through the rearview mirror and gave a thumb up.

"No problem! No problem!" he shouted through the sound of squealing tires. He's younger than I thought. "What for? I hope it's not for the police."

"We might need your services in the future," Austin said, leaning on me. "You see, we save so much time with you as our driver. So we actually get to have a lot of time to go around and have fun."

The driver laughed, bobbing his head just like the bobble heads on his dashboard.

"I see. I see. No problem boys," he said, reaching for his glove compartment and pulling out a card. He flicked it toward the backseat and I caught it with both hands.

"Macario Sakay Jr.?" I asked, intrigued.

"Seriously?" Austin asked and pulled my wrist so he could see the card.

"Yeah. Yeah! ' Sakay na!'" the driver said, impersonating Sharon Cuneta's iconic line before erupting into another fit of laughter. Sakay meant "to ride". And what made it catchier was the fact that Macario Sakay was a fucking Filipino hero.

"Hell of a convo starter," Austin commented with a scoff.

"Right? People find it hilarious and it helps a lot with my job. I am meant to do this!"

We reached Downtown in no time, both of us thanking the jolly driver when we reached our stop. The night market was already laid out all throughout the main streets, tent after tent of vendors with different products to offer. Austin shoved his jacket in my hands before he ran up to a stall that sold seafood called "saang" or scorpion conch and I watched him, taking my time. From a stranger's perspective, he's obviously a rich kid in pajamas who was out for a nighttime food trip. So I let him deal with the crowd around the stall, see if he could handle himself while fighting for the vendor's attention. He didn't disappoint.

"Fight!" I cheered him on from behind the throng of customers and he chuckled, reaching for several sticks of skewered saang flesh. I thought he would act like a princess and say "excuse me" until everyone would notice the cute little girl and give him the special treatment.

"I've always wanted to try these," he said when he got his plastic cup filled with vinegar and chopped garlic, chili and onions. Hanging on his wrist was the plastic bag with all the saang he bought. We decided that it's better for him to eat it sitting down and I had the best place in mind.