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"Yeah, I’ll be there in 10, Nick,” I said on my cellphone to a regular customer. “Where are we going tonight?”

“Knights of Columbus, Jernigan. You know — off Airport Parkway in South Burlington. They’re having one of those Texas Hold ’Em tournaments. You know me.”... Read more

Let’s say you’re an event planner for an environmental organization. A big meeting has been scheduled, and the question is location. Where to hold it? How about Vermont?

This is a scenario that must play out in boardrooms across the country, because if I’ve driven one professional tree hugger, I’ve driven a thousand. These environmental types just love to gather in Vermont. We are, after all, the Green Mountain state.... Read more

The pickles were sensational — a sexy marriage of sweet and sour. I kept reaching for one more, and then — well, maybe one more. Heaping bowls of these beauties, chunky and glistening green, were set about the table for the 12 of us, along with similar overflowing vessels of beet slices, pork rinds — piping hot and crunchy — pork pâté and coleslaw.... Read more

It was a busy Friday night, typical in all respects save the date — February 29. Unusual calendar dates used to hold some allure for me, until the Millennium came and went with nary a ripple. The countdown to Y2K, as it was dubbed, approached with the threat of a worldwide computer meltdown. As someone never quite comfortable with the digital revolution, I admit to feeling a certain letdown when the date switched over and the promised Armageddon failed to materialize. In the wake of that big fizzle, I yawn at supposed calendar anomalies.... Read more

Gracie is a self-described “party girl.” I’m not sure precisely what that means. She must be in her forties; I’ve been driving her for as long as I remember, and she was already beyond her twenties when she first started calling my cab. Despite the partying — however defined — she still looks great, and by great, I mean hot. Not smoking hot any longer, but still hot. For as long as I’ve known her, she’s worked out daily, so that partially explains her still turning heads.... Read more

The middle-aged man who stood at my taxi window was grasping a much younger man’s shoulder and arm with both his hands, steadying him as he got my attention. As I rolled down the window the man asked, “Would you take my son and me out to Williston?”

“I don’t see why not,” I replied. “Is he going to be all right in the cab?”

I didn’t have to specify what I meant by “all right”; the older man knew exactly what I was getting at.... Read more

Everything slows down in January, so my hopes were not high for the evening Amtrak arrival. Perhaps a stray student, or some local who extended his or her Christmas vacation — such were my wishful thoughts. Like a deer scratching the frozen tundra in quest of a few withered shrubs, I’m forced to grind it out through these sparse periods to maintain at least a meager cash flow.... Read more

"Where you at, Jernigan?” The voice on the other end of the cellphone belonged to a long-time regular customer, a man immediately identifiable by his distinctive New Orleans drawl. Around town he’s known as “Mississippi” or, more often, just “Sippi.” I guess he grew up on the Gulf Coast of that state, right on the border with Louisiana, and landed in Vermont about 25 years ago.... Read more

What a boon on a lazy Tuesday afternoon, I thought as we sped along the highway en route to Logan Airport. Every so often, an airline will pay the cost of long-distance ground transport. I used to think they did this solely when a customer missed a connecting flight due to a screw-up on the part of the air carrier. But this run was purely the result of bad weather — nobody’s fault, certainly not the airline’s. So I have no idea.... Read more

“Tell me, Jernigan, how are you?”

I don’t know how that question hits other people. Maybe just as part of the prosaic rhythm of social life. But something about it touches my heart — that is, when it’s asked sincerely, and by the right person. Janet, the customer sitting next to me, qualified on both counts.

“Oh, I’m doing pretty well,” I replied. “For some reason, this is always a tough time of year for me. The bleakness makes me bleak. It gets better when the snow begins to fall in earnest and things brighten up.”... Read more