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Eddie Kaspbrak was a great driver. Even though he didn’t remember it now, as was the case with almost everything relating to that period of his life, ever since he’d been a child, his sense of direction had been impeccable. He worked as a limo driver, took celebrities and rich people from one place to another. He’d already gotten used to meeting people you’d usually only ever see as TV show guests or on the headline of some trashy magazine. But for some reason, this time, when he picked the customer up, he felt strange.
Rich Trashmouth Tozier. Radio show host. Eddie had heard parts of his show here and there, but he’d never really been a big fan. That type of humor felt childish to him. It reminded him of – what? He told himself he was too good for the filthy jokes, but in reality, he always felt a weird, almost unsettling, kind of nostalgia whenever he’d happened to turn on that radio station during Tozier’s show. That had made him feel uneasy and disconnected, like one feels before fainting. Like he remembered feeling as a child every time before an asthma attack. So he’d taken to avoiding the channel altogether. He did that with a lot of things that made him feel that strange way. It was like a word which was just on the tip of his tongue, but always managed to escape him. He didn’t like to think about it too hard, as if afraid he might actually remember the word. But now here he was, with the guy himself sitting on his backseat.
“Wow, never thought I’d be in one of these,” Tozier said as he got in the car. “Always wanted to, as a kid. I guess life's like that, a lot of the time.”
Eddie let out a neutral “hm”, feeling puzzled.
“Not one for small talk, are you?” Tozier chuckled.
Eddie clenched his jaw, but reminded himself he was in fact talking to a customer – or not talking, which in itself was the problem. “No, no,” – he rushed in, “I just have a headache, that's all. It’ll go away in a minute.”
Tozier took a good look at him. “Have we met before?” he asked, and made a weird gesture with his hand, almost as if he was about to touch his face but stopped himself at the last second.
That’s odd , Eddie thought, where have I seen this before? He shook his head and answered, “I don’t think so. Not a lot of radio hosts that I’ve driven before.”
“It’s a first, then”, Tozier grinned, almost – teasingly? Eddie let out a nervous laugh, it sounded weird coming out of the mouth of a man his age. God, what’s with me today? I’m not usually this tense. He wanted to apologize, but he knew that would make the conversation even more stiff. He smiled sheepishly. Tozier didn’t seem to mind – he must’ve had some practice in keeping a conversation going, being a radio show host after all.
“You drive a lot of celebrities around, right? And I interview them. It’s interesting, don’t you think?”
“Sure”, Eddie answered. “Although I have to say, not as interesting as I initially thought it would be. It turns out a lot of them aren’t really that glamorous when you meet them every day to bring them to a hairdresser, or a TV studio, or a life coach or whatever. But you probably already knew that, too, right?” Now he was being too talkative. He didn’t usually allow himself to speak so freely of his clients, being that his job was simply to smile and make small talk. And he was quite literally bringing another celebrity to one of those everyday places just now.
Richie laughed. Richie? Where did that come from? But more importantly: the sound of that laugh. It sounded familiar. For a second, Eddie caught the passenger’s eye through the rear view mirror.
Had any good chucks lately, Eds?
The laughter died. Tozier looked confused. Eddie blinked, and the moment was gone. He cleared his throat. “So, where are you headed to?”