The Little Curiosities

by Comma Typer

Taxity-Tak

“So what other jobs can I do?” asks Yitterby, the weight of the matter and his yak body crushing the poor couch beneath. “Amareica’s the land of opportunity, and Manehattan’s the city of opportunity… and taxis! They can’t just take my license like that!”

“Boss’s got a point, though,” says Gadolin, his griffon neighbor and owner of the apartment room he’s currently crashing in. The smell of sizzling bacon breakfast lifted in the air, disgusting the yak. “Five hundred kilos of meat’s gonna kill any car any day of the week. You can’t fit in one of those anyway.”

“And what’m I gonna do? I can’t just wait here!” Yitterby gets out of the couch, already feeling the springs about to break. “I already spent a week getting out of that stupid ‘magic’ yak dialect… now that I can speak better than a fifth-grader again—“

“Welp, job viability’s your choice, not mine.”

“Says the one who still has his license.”

“Alright, fair enough. But look on the bright side… we’re a month into this mess and lots are still scrambling to get their jobs right… or find other ones. Or make new ones. See, my friend’s making a killing now that he can sell all kinds of meat to us carnivores like rat, rabbit, boar—”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

And with that, Gadolin lazily floated himself to Yitterby’s back, resting there and taking a long sip off of some leftover rum. “Your call, your call, Yit.”

“Hey, get off of me! I’m not some camel!”

“Oh hey! Ugh, fine—“ and Gadolin’s off his back, flapping over him. “Though, you are a yak; you might as well be a camel.”

“Are you calling me an animal?!”

“Hmm… actually, camels are known for their transportation capabilities—“

“I am not stooping that low, alright?!”

But a lightbulb popped up for Gadolin. A mischievous clinging and wringing of claws later, “Well, humans won’t stoop that low, but we’re something else now, aren’t we?”

“Wait… Gadolin, what do you mean?”

---

“I hate this meaning.”

“Come on, Yit, consider this a temp job for now. No one else is doing it. Not that many yaks around here in Manehattan, and the cab fleet’s still climbing back to a hundred percent… carpe diem!”

Yitterby can only sigh as he puts on a rug and saddle, screaming Ottimo and the ridesharing app’s logo. “This is embarrassing.”

“Yeah, and the horse-riding ranchers aren’t more embarrassed than you now, are they? Hey, I used to go into the sewers around here and dig up feces for biofuel for big cash back in the day! Gotta swallow some of that pride.”

So, .with nothing but an upgraded saddle with locked pockets to hold one’s stuff—not even a wagon or a carriage—Yitterby goes off, phone hidden in his thick fur—

Vibration, then the phone speaks: “Job auto-accepted. Copper Avenue 376, Halter District—“

“Yes, yes, I know the place!”

---

And the door opens, revealing a disheveled, groaning yak crashing into the Gadolin’s same old couch.

“How’d the experiment go, champ?”

A raised hoof, but Yitterby never looks back. “I’ve had… families, friends, entire parties of creatures dancing on my back. Even those with wings! They weren’t after the transportation, were they?”

“I believe they were. Just that you also had the bonus of being a yak.”

“And the selfies, Gadolin, the selfies…”

“Hey… at least you’re back on your feet—uh, hooves, yeah…” He flicks a looked outside. “Big pay day for you out there. Ottimo’s just a start-up, anyhow. Catering to big-boned creatures like you while you get to do your sorta-old job… it’s a win-win in the end, no? Just be like the good ol’ taxi days… without the car radio.”

“I’ve got a phone.” A lingering stare outside, indulging himself in the breathtaking view of skyscrapers and the flying creatures blessing the air. “But the streets… you know there’re still a lot of taxis, driven by ponies and even a couple cat people and those hunchback dogs.”

“Makes you stand out more. It’s a more… personal feeling, you know? No vehicle: just you and the passenger, hm?”

A somber hope lit up for the future. Another day of fares tomorrow. One step at a time.

“Yeah, sure, Gadolin.”

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

The gig economy at work...