The Best Mascot

By Zhai Jie

I hailed a taxi during a business trip. I was in a hurry and asked the driver,a middle-aged man, to drive fast.He glanced at me and reluctantly replied, “I’ll try.”

He was not a good driver. He could have overtaken other cars several times, but he missed the opportunities. When there were still three seconds at one green light, he could have accelerated through the intersection, but he stopped in advance. Looking at cars passing by from both sides,I reminded the unhurried driver,“I’ve taken taxis a lot of times, but this is the slowest I’ve ever had.”He seemed unaffected, looking ahead and continuing his driving.

Was he a new driver? I wondered. If it was so, I shouldn’t press him further. But no, the driver’s info card showed that he had twenty years of experience driving. I was curious and asked,“You must earn less than other taxi drivers since you drive so safe?” He nodded and sighed,“Yeah. I’ve probably lost a dozen yuan a day.” I replied, “That’s right. You’re probably missing out on another thousand yuan a month. Why don’t you earn more money like other drivers?”

M y q u e s t i o n i g n i t e d a conversation with him. He told me that he used to drive impatiently and swim between lanes when he was new. He was fined multiple times each month for violating traffic rules. Even worse, he got hurt in several accidents when he tried to drive too aggressively. Since then, he had learned to slow down, but he still couldn’t control himself when he saw passengers taking other taxes.

“What did you do?” I asked.

He pointed his lips at an object in the front of the car, keeping both hands on the wheel. It was a family photo. I’ve seen many mascots placed in cars, from crystal agate to colored glaze gourds, and to auspicious beads,but it was the first time that I had ever seen a family photo placed in the car. He explained,“Sometimes when I desire to speed up, my daughter’s innocent smile and my wife’s gentle expression remind me that I have to control myself and be safe.Then I calm down. I’d rather earn less and not have my family worry about me. I’m not a superstitious man, so I feel this family photo is the best mascot for me.”

W h e n I a r r i v e d a t m y destination, I was deeply touched by what the taxi driver had done.With this family photo, he kept reminding himself to be more responsible and committed to his family. ◆

(From Hebei Workers Daily,December 13, 2017. Translation:Li Li)

去外地出差，坐上一輛出租車，司機是個中年男人。因為趕時間，上車后，我請他加快車速。他看看坐在副駕駛座上的我，勉強地說：“盡量吧。”

這實在不是一個優秀的司機。好幾次本來可以變道超車，他都沒有把握住機會。綠燈正在倒計時，明明還有三秒鐘，加上黃燈的緩沖時間，完全可以過去，他卻提前停下來。瞟著左右兩邊呼嘯而過的車輛，看著他不緊不慢的神情，我旁敲側擊地提醒他：“我坐過無數出租車，您這是我近幾年遇到的最慢的一次。”他也不著急，盯著前面的路：“呵呵。”

新手？如果是這樣，那我真不該催他。不對，駕駛員信息牌上分明寫著，這是一個有著二十多年駕齡的老司機。我好奇起來：“您的車得開這么‘穩’，每天得比其他出租車少賺不少錢吧？”他點點頭，長吁一口氣：“嗯，每天得少賺好幾十元。”“就是啊，一月就是千把塊，誰還和錢過不去？那你怎么……”

我的疑問打開了他的話匣。他告訴我，剛開車的時候，他也是橫沖直撞，見縫插針，每個月因為違章要交好幾百塊錢的罰款。這還不算，有好幾次因為搶時間，發生事故，自己也受了傷。從那時候開始，車速就漸漸慢下來。但是，看到路邊的乘客在自己的眼皮子底下被同行搶去，他又開始控制不住自己。

“那怎么辦？”我問。

他朝車前努嘴。我順勢看去，一張不大的全家福擺在正中央。車內的吉祥物我見過不少，有水晶瑪瑙，有琉璃葫蘆，有吉祥佛珠……但在車上擺全家福的，我還是第一次看見。他說：“有時，我控制不住自己想深踩油門，但看到這張全家福，左邊女兒天真爛漫的笑臉，右邊妻子溫柔賢惠的神情，無聲地提醒著我，一定要穩重，要克制，要安全，就會平靜下來。我寧肯少掙幾個錢，也不愿意讓老婆孩子為我擔驚受怕。我這人不迷信，在我心里，全家福就是最好的吉祥物。”

目的地到了，看著出租車穩穩地向前駛去，我的內心忽然生出一種感動。一張全家福，讓一個男人心中多了一份責任與擔當。◆