It was a rainy Thursday in the City of Roses. TriMet driver Lahcen Qouchbane was tooling the No. 96 bus down I-5, just coming into the treacherous Terwilliger curves. Those curves had caused more accidents than any in Portland, and were especially deadly when wet. But Lahcen didn't care. He was reading his Kindle, even steering with his elbow when necessary to turn the pages. Everything was cool, until that nosy passenger pointed a cell-phone camera at him, catching 60 damning seconds of video.
Next thing Lahcen knew he was all over YouTube. Then TV. Then he was suspended, and finally fired. But hey -- rumor has it he was reading Killing Trail by Charles Gramlich, so it was all worth it. And now that he's no longer driving, Lahcen has even more time to read. Rumor has it he's now zipping through A Policeman's Lot by Gary M. Dobbs. A storybook ending, no?
I didn't see him hit anyone. What's the problem?
ReplyDeleteSurely the one who fired him don't own a kindle
ReplyDeleteHe should have been reading a Nook or maybe the guy who fired him was.
ReplyDeleteIf he wasn't reading my book he deserves to be fired, driving or not.
ReplyDeleteThis was on our local - or was the national? - news last week, the day of or after it happened. Obviously all e-books and e-readers should be outlawed! Don't think he could have done this with a paperback...
ReplyDeleteOkay, okay, don't have a cow, I know e-readers aren't going to be outlawed.
I'll have to look into those dangerous Twillinger Curves.