Their window rolled down and the younger woman in the passenger seat leaned over to our guy. “Hey, calm down! It’s not a big deal! He was just waiting for someone!”

“Did I ask you what the fuck you were thinking you dumb bitch!” He wasn’t one to mess around with pleasantries.

The woman, who had been somewhat restrained when she first spoke, clawed at the air in fury. “Who are you calling bitch! You’re just a filthy old man! Look forward to hell, it’s coming soon!”

“I couldn’t care less what someone tells me, especially when I’m hearing it come from the lips of a giant pussy! I’m going to shove my fucking arm up your ass you stupid old bitch! You’re sad that you can’t get fucked!”

The woman reached to throw something at our car but we had already taken off. The man had been driving rapidly before. Now he was driving angry. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’d turn his lights off as we raced through windy narrow streets to sneak up behind a car in front, then flip them back on and honk the horn over and over. The victims of his lunacy usually slammed on their brakes in panic, forcing him to swerve left or right to pass. It didn’t matter which side, because we were never in one lane for more than a few seconds. The taxi’s tiny engine squealed like a meth-addled blender, and he refused to shift out of second gear. I can’t count the number of intersections we went through without him giving the slightest glance left or right, but I do know that Jeff and I quickly finished what was left of our bottle.

Finally we came sliding up to the bar with enough speed and tire screeching to make most of the people sitting outdoors look for a safe spot to dive. In retrospect, it was a pretty impressive entrance, but at the time I could only find solace in a string of epithets.

I got out of the car slowly, partly to calm my nerves and partly to take the time to shove the empty water bottle under the seat. With one foot out the door, I felt I had to say something to the guy.

“Wow, these people on the roads sure are crazy, huh?”

He looked back at me with a calm that was impressively frightening after the fireworks earlier.

“Mother. Fuckers.” He paused. “They can shove it up their ass!”

I fell out onto the street as he sped off with the door half closed.