I open the back door, and I can see that Edith is in worse shape than I thought – but her eyes are still alert, and she's watching me. I ask if it's okay if I look in her purse for her keys, and figure her eyes are telling me to go ahead. I find them easy enough, but there's nothing on them to tell me what apartment she's in. Nice and safe and sensible – and no help at all in the current situation. After telling her what I'm doing, it's back into her purse for her billfold so I can check it; her driver's license tells me what apartment. I make sure she can see me putting everything back, then I wrap the strap to her purse around the back of my belt a couple of times to keep my hands free. I tell her I'm going to have to get her out of the cab, and ask her to understand that I'm not trying to get fresh. Again, her eyes tell me it's okay, so I reach in and finally manage to get her out and more-or-less vertical.

I put one of her arms around my shoulders so I can hold one hand while my arm is around her waist. She's only a couple of inches shorter than me, and packaged pretty nice, so it's a little bit of a struggle getting her inside and into the elevator. I can prop both of us against the wall on the way up, and it isn't a very long haul from the elevator to her apartment.

I'm trying to hold Edith up and get her apartment unlocked – and not doing a very good job at either – when the door across from Edith's opens up and a woman comes out. She asks me what's going on, and I tell her who I am, and what happened. She immediately gets worried, and tells me "I'm Edith's best friend. Here, let me help."

She takes the keys away from me, and it isn't three seconds before the door is open. She leads the way back to the bedroom, and we manage to get Edith laid down on the bed. The woman looks at me and says "I remember who you are. Edith told me how you're the cabbie she calls whenever she has to work late. Do you have to be anyplace?"