No taxi will take you to Brooklyn

Seeing the skyline from the window of the Greyhound bus from DC made me all tingly. As seen on TV. Wow! The man from New York kept talking to the passengers behind us, repeating his 15 minutes speech on The wonders of the city. When we finally left the bus, the last thing he said to us was "oh you're staying in BROOKLYN? You should definitely take a cab, don't experience the metro system yet" before he rushed off. As a mother I became a bit anxious, and decided to take a cab.

The taxi line was a mess, but finally we were next. "No, I'm not taking you to Brooklyn" the taxi driver hissed before picking up the passenger behind us. The next taxis just repeated the scene like they were pushing a replay button. I started picturing Brooklyn as a desolate area of crime. The last stance of civilization: The Holiday Inn Express Downtown Brooklyn. The last taxi, covered with bullet holes, standing in front of the hotel, both tourists and taxi driver inside because the NYPD was to afraid to approach the area.

Shaking off the pictures I had to make a last go at it, which was easy since one in three cars is a cab in this city. "But why won't you take us" I shrieked. "I"m off duty at five and it's Friday. No taxi driver is going to take you to Brooklyn."the driver replied. "But what do you advice me to do?" I pushed the sentences out - after all I have a 14 year old to take care of, I can't just give up! "It's easiest to take the metro. If you're comfortable about it. It'll save you a lot of money too. Have a nice day." He picked up the next passenger.

Slowly dragging our suitcases towards certain death we looked at the signs, and after talking to several service people we bought our tickets. Loud sirens from inside the metro system was making a constant noise, making it impossible to think. We entered the subway, stressed  around for a while until realizing that we were not going to understand this by ourselves. "Ask a policeman - they are everywhere", another satisfied customer advised us. So we did. We found a big, heavily armed, NYPD cop. "So you want to go to Brooklyn? And the taxis won't take you. They do that all the time to earn more money. Its illegal to refuse passengers. They won't say no to you when I'm there" he said in a voice maching his uniform. Julius smiled. We are in fuckin' New York City.