Just after midnight on a Saturday John Rees pulled his Ford Crown Victoria with the rocking horse on top over to a curb on Armitage Avenue near Clark Street. “Need a cab?” he called to a couple standing across the street.
“Oh my god,” the woman said. “This place is crazy. Is your cab always like this?”
“I do,” the woman said, reaching for the candy.
“How about a little Sonny and Cher for ya?” Rees asked, holding out a pair of dogs that sing “I Got You Babe” in tinny voices.
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“Are you kidding?” the man said, laughing. “Did we just seriously get into this cab?”
“Louis Armstrong!” Rees said.
Rees, a 42-year-old native of Lombard, started driving cabs five years ago, after a guy he delivered pizzas with said he could make good money. He’d worked a series of odd jobs up to that point–salesman, waiter, bartender, carpet cleaner. At first he drove during the day but he eventually switched to nights, which were less hectic and more lucrative.
