“The Taximan’s Story” is a short story by Catherine Lim that appeared in her collection Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore. It’s about a taxi driver who’s willing to make money off the young people he so vehemently condemns. He tells his passenger about his life and the troubles he had with his youngest daughter. Here’s a summary of “The Taximan’s Story”.
“The Taximan’s Story” Summary
A taxi driver picks up a woman who needs to get to a meeting. She asks him a few questions and he talks the whole way there. He’s been a driver for twenty years, and Singapore is much more crowded than it used to be. He makes a living but has to work hard. He has six sons and two daughters. Now, the government doesn’t encourage that many children.
His children are doing well except his younger daughter, who is disobedient. Children obeyed in their time (the driver and passenger’s) but not now. Parents were more strict, which is good. Young people today hang out at coffee houses, acting important, smoking and flirting. Girls take a change of clothes for after school and put on makeup. The parents think they have extracurricular activities but the kids are out playing the fool.
They have fun and get money from European and American tourists. As a driver, he sees all their tricks. He makes more money from these girls with their foreign boyfriends than all his other passengers. He picks up the girls and takes them to the Hotel Elroy or Orchid Mansions. Other times, they pay to make love in the taxi. Rates are double after 1 a.m. and they don’t care what it costs. The driver warns his passenger, who’s a teacher, that if she has a daughter she needs to check up on what she’s doing.
The driver’s daughter Lay Choo is smart and is going to University. Her teachers always praise her. She does her school work and helps at home. He let her go back to school in the evening for extra math help.
One day, while out driving, he thinks he sees Lay Choo with other girls and Europeans outside a coffee house. She’s at school, though, so it can’t be her. This girl is done up and bold, not like his daughter. He checks back the next day and confirms that it’s her. He’s enraged and grabs her, slaps her and drags her into the car. At home, he beats her until he’s pulled away. He might have killed her otherwise. He locks her in her room for three days, saying she’s sick to explain her absence from school.
Everything is fine now. Lay Choo is only allowed out to go to school. Her mother monitors everything she does and who her friends are. Young people today are such trouble.
The driver can’t wait for his passenger until after her meeting. He has to get to the Hotel Elroy; there are plenty of young people to pick up.
I hope this summary of “The Taximan’s Story” by Catherine Lim was helpful.