Kirk Alex

This is another volume in the story of Chance Register, struggling writer and former Los Angeles cab driver, now a resident of Tucson, Arizona.

He worked for a year or two in a warehouse that distributed pornographic films, until he could no longer take the backstabbing jerks with whom he was working. He is now almost 50 years old, unemployed and with only a few hundred dollars in the bank.

Nearly every day, he reads the local classified ads or rides his bicycle to the local state job center, looking for any type of work. Chance got rid of his car as a cost-saving measure, but it turns out to have been a bad move. Pedaling several miles to check out a possible job opening, then several miles back to his apartment, during an Arizona summer, when the temperature is over 100 degrees, is beyond brutal. When he gets to the company with the opening, they’re closed, or they’re not hiring, or the receptionist has an attitude problem, or the job looks really horrible. For Chance, the worst thing is when the hourly wage is at, or below, minimum wage (evidently, that’s legal in Arizona). He seems to spend a large amount of his time cursing the evil, dishonest money-grubbers in this world.

The local cab company has openings, but Chance has no desire to even think about getting back in a cab. The biggest reason is that daily rent of the cab, and gasoline, comes out of the cabbie’s pocket, so he has to make a certain amount of money each day, just to break even. At this point, a lesser man would be lying on the floor with a self-inflicted bullet in his head. The only thing that keeps Chance going is his desire to become a writer. He has one book already published, though it’s not selling very well, and another book somewhere in the production process, that he would really like to become an actual book.

This is another well done, honest and heartfelt piece of writing from Kirk Alex. At one time or another, everyone can identify with Chance, being unemployed and very low on funds. It’s short, easy to read, and well worth the reader’s time.… (más)

Blood, Sweat and Chump Change: Taxi Tales and Vignettes, Kirk Alex, Tucumcari Press, 2004

This is another group of stories about life in present-day Los Angeles as seen from the inside of a taxicab. It isn’t pretty.

The author is a native of Sarajevo, who came to LA via Brussels and Chicago (with 2 years in Vietnam included). He dreams of being a writer. He spends his days driving people in the film business, or who are working on a "project" (which can mean practically anything), so they feel that they can treat others, including cabbies, like dirt. It would be a huge understatement to say that he hates LA, and would leave in a second, if he had the money. More important things come first, like wondering if he can pay the monthly rent on his apartment, and his cab.

Many things about Los Angeles get him angry and frustrated, but perhaps the worst is waiting in the taxi line at a hotel (which is bad enough). Hoping for a potentially lucrative fare to the airport, he gets pulled out of line by someone wanting to travel only a couple of blocks, a fare worth only a couple of dollars. Back at the hotel, he is now last in line.

There are only 2 things which help keep him sane during the day. The first is anything to do with books and writing. The second is the nice people that he sometimes ferries in his cab. There are some people who willingly give decent tips, or who otherwise are not arrogant, self-absorbed jerks, unlike everyone else in Los Angeles. The first story in this book, which, by itself, is worth the price of the book, is about being an unofficial tour guide for a young woman visiting from Denmark. He tries very hard to show that he is interested in a serious relationship instead of just sex (but if sex becomes a possibility...).

These stories are very much worth reading. This honest, almost painfully honest, writing does an excellent job of showing the underside of humanity.… (más)