Marriage Proposals in Taxis

October 30, 2009

“You’re American!” the man in the front seat of the taxi yelled at my friend Halley and I.

“Yes, that’s right,” we said.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-five,” Halley said.

“How old do you THINK I am?” I asked with a smile as Halley rolled her eyes.

“Uhhhh…twenty-three?”

“Great job! You’re absolutely correct!” I laughed.

“You’re such a liar,” Halley said in English.

“I have a son!” the man announced. “Let me call him now. Will you meet him?”

“Of course!”

He got on the phone with his son and explained the exciting news: Two American girls were sitting in the backseat of his taxi. Would he meet them? One of them is 23 and looks Turkmen. She has black hair and dark eyes. She’d be perfect for him, and she speaks Turkmen. She already has agreed to marry him.

“Beh!” he said as he got off the phone. “He’s too shy.”

“Awwww, that’s too bad,” I said. “I really wanted to marry him.”