Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Origin of the Magic Taxi

Omar had taken out a pretty big loan to pay for his taxi medallion. It seemed like a good investment at the time, but then Uber came to town and put the taxi business in a tough spot. Omar’s debts were piling up; he was getting desperate.

He often visited the New York Public Library, and often considered education as a way out. But a strange book caught his eye, filled with supposedly magical spells. One in particular seemed alluring, a body swap spell! If he wasn’t himself anymore, he wouldn’t have to worry about his troubles! He recited the spell while waiting to pick up a fare at the airport, just sort of as practice.

An Asian woman popped in, asking to go to midtown. The ride was long, but rather uneventful. As she paid and left, the only words he spoke to her the entire ride were, “Have a nice day.”

It seemed to act as some sort of trigger. Suddenly, Omar felt himself standing outside the cab. The instantaneous change had caught him off-guard, as he fell to the street. He picked himself up now looking at his former face behind the wheel. He reached into a purse he didn’t know he had and gave all the cash inside to his former body, $50. Then he watched it drive away.

Omar realized he hadn’t just be reading the spell, he had actually cast it! With no specific target in mind, the magic infused into the taxi itself. Once the woman got in, it was inevitable that he would swap with her. He was certainly happy to have a new life, even if it was one he probably wouldn’thave purposely chosen. He just hoped the magic of the taxi would just be this one-off.

1 comment:

  1. That is a really good concept for how the Magic Taxi came into being. Sets the distance needed as well as some of the other aspects. Very well done, I just might have to use Omar's name if I write a Magic Taxi story and/or another caption around it.

    Though, part of me is left wanting to know who Omar ended up as.

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