"Just great, I go all the way out to this cemetery and it looks like there's no action. Now I know why Buffy doesn't go to this one, and I just thought she was too lazy to go all the way to the outskirts of town. I guess it can't be helped, Buffy gets all the good blood sucker hangouts. All I got left is this one, now that Buffy changed her patrol schedule and made it a special point not to tell me. She was pretty pissed off when she found me on my own patrol, two weeks ago. I should have paid more attention to the time so I didn't have to run into her. It's pretty sad I'm more afraid of running into one of my friends, than I am of facing a vampire by myself."
Just as Xander stands up from the tree he was leaning on, a few drops of moisture fell down onto his head. "Looks like we might be getting some rain, I better head back before it really starts pouring." As if someone was listening, rain started coming down in buckets. "Just great, it NEVER rains in Sunnydale, the one night I am furthest possible from my house it decides to downpour. Time to go back home, if I can really call it that, it's just so depressing now especially since my friends are excluding me from the group, it's like I am all by myself now. Cordy will barely talk to me, but I was the one who fucked that up, Faith just used me, although I guess there are worse things to be used for, and Willow, Buffy, and Giles are keeping their distance afraid I might hear of something and try to help out. I have no one now, guess I am God's lonely man."
Out of nowhere appears a classic style checkered taxicab, it pulls up to the side of the cemetery and stops. "Hmmm.... This seems fishy I've never seen any taxis around Sunnydale before. Plus I wouldn't think it would be such a good thing to have going around town at night. Maybe I should check it out, I got some spare cash and it would leave me a little warmer and drier when I get home."
Xander climbs into the cab and tells the driver the address of his house. "So driver are you new to Sunnydale?"
"Yeah I just started here about a month ago, I came from New York and then I worked at a few places around the country. I wasn't planning on leaving New York, I was just stopping in Pittsburgh to see how an old friend was doing, but then I just kept going, I felt like my business was done there. I heard they were hiring a whole new taxi fleet here in Sunnydale, so here I am."
"Hmm interesting," Xander said quietly to himself.
"What was that sir?" the taxi driver asked trying to catch what Xander just said.
<Better give him a warning or he won't last long here.> Xander thought for a moment how the best way to put it, "Sunnydale can be a dangerous place maybe you should find a safer place to work or maybe just drive during the daytime."
"I'll work anytime, anywhere," the taxi driver replied casually.
"Sunnydale isn't what it seems especially at night, it would be best to be careful," stressed Xander hoping he would take his advice.
"Well Mayor Wilkins guaranteed our safety saying that it is necessary for the Sunnydale economy and people here to have an efficient taxi service and so far I haven't had any problems neither has any of the other drivers."
"Oh... that's...strange...I wonder how the mayor would be able to do that," wondered Xander, trying to think of how it was possible for the taxi drivers could be safe.
"But I do know what you mean sir, I see what is going on here at night and I don't like it one bit. It makes me sick just to think of it and I can longer turn a blind eye to what comes out at night. One day a real rain is going to come and wash all the filth off the streets," the taxi driver uttered in disgust.
"It's good to hear that not all the people in town ignore what's going on, but you can't just go out and start fighting there are things you need to know."
"Your right, I'll have to prepare myself better. You don't seem like a happy person, is something bothering you?"
"Things are just kind of tough lately, my friends are excluding me from things. How could you tell?"
"I can sense these things sometimes, yeah that can be tough man, do you have a girlfriend that can help you through things?"
"I did, she was really great, but I screwed things up."
"That's a shame to hear, I was in love once, but I messed things up too. If you think that you two are good together you should try to win her back."
"I would, but she hates me now."
"I doubt that, you messed things up and she's hurt by that, but if you show her how you feel and show her you wouldn't mess it up again, she just might be able to forgive you."
"You have a good point, I think I'll give it a shot. Hey I got an extra twinkie would you like it?" Xander asked as he reached into his jacket pocket.
"No thanks, I need to keep my body organized and in top shape, I stopped eating things that would destroy my body, I also push my body hard trying to get in the best shape possible," the taxi driver stated boastfully.
"That's a good idea, but I don't know if I could give up twinkies, but I guess anything that could give me a little edge fighting would be good," Xander looked at the twinkie thoughtfully before he stuffed it into his mouth. <Maybe he is right, I should start cutting down on the junk food, I think this'll be my last twinkie for awhile.>
"Well here you are sir," the taxi driver stated as the taxi came to a halt outside of Xander's home.
Xander climbs out of the cab and goes up to the driver's window, "Alright how much do I owe you?"
The taxi driver waived his hand dismissivly and said, "Don't worry about it, you're still in high school, and I didn't put you on the meter anyway, spend your money on something fun or use it to try and win your girlfriend back."
"Thanks by the way my name's Xander," he stated happy he didn't have to pay for the ride.
"Nice to meet you Xander, I'm Travis Bickle," the taxi driver replied grabbing and shaking Xander's hand.
"Well Travis good night, tell you what, if your serious about fighting stop by my house sometime and I'll go over what you'll need to know, something tells me you're going to be alright around here."