The following is a selection from Views from a Yellow Cab, 3

During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, I had the following conversation with my doctor about an AIDS stricken fare…

Dr “Yeah, I used to do that. And 12 hr shift at Bellevue Emergency is…”

Hack “Like no other 12 hr shift in the world.”

Dr “Rough. Maybe rougher than you guys work!”

Hack “Yeah, well I see a lot of it. You remember who brings so many of them there.”

Dr “Some of them don’t make it. We had a cab driver bring us one from the Village–died in the backseat. AIDS victim.

My friend got cut with a scalpel…”

In memoriam to past and present victims of AIDS.