Car-sharing in the late 21st Century, by Mike McBride

Before they invented the Telepathic Highway

With its uninspiring, individual car pods

Each one looking like an ancient spherical light bulb

From way back in the twentieth century

Pods you can walk straight into and state your destination

And the magnetic engine whisks you away from road to track

The auto functioning closes the door, adjusts the seat,

Switches on the virtual cinema and massages your back

Well, before all that, when they still had smart roads and real cars

I used to own a Boyota Enigmatic GTH

The one with the extra-large hydrogen cell,

Blue tinted windows and the trim in jaguar black

Of course I was officially unemployed in those days

But I still had my precious car: with it I could moonlight

To make ends meet I drove organs between hospitals

And I could also do a bit of car-sharing

A lot of the transfers were emergencies at night

At 20 mph above the speed limit on open roads

Having a real passenger on one of those trips

Their smell, the physical closeness was intimately sweet

Until pulled-over by a bike-cop in his leathers

For overtaking when the radar sign was red

You should have seen the kaleidoscope of lights

On his Charley Ravensong GTH Sprite

Gassed On Superior Hydrogen!  That was so crazy

I very nearly brought up my Oceanic lunch

Had to keep hold of my temper, I can tell you

Yeah, those car-sharing days were out-o’-sight!

M R McBride

Autumn 2019