Francis Ford Coppola
1963
81 minutes
You have encountered a lot of psychopaths in your life, but as far as you know none of them have been actual axe-murderers. The closest you have come is one night when you were driving your taxi in the waning hours of the morning and you were dispatched two different calls (in a shared ride cab) on the west side of town.
The first person you picked up was a man in his mid-thirties in a trenchcoat. He sat up front with you, which you didn't usualy allow, but after a long night driving you didn't feel like arguing about it. You were just tired and wanted to go home.
After a bit of awkward chit-chat about how cold the weather was and how long a night you had, the man declared to you, "Hey, I hope you don't mind that I have this..." At which point he opened his trenchcoat and showed you that he had a full-sized axe inside. You found this a bit alarming to say the least, but tried not to react.
Continuing to make conversation, you asked him, "Uh, so why do you have an axe?" The man started into a convoluted story about how someone he knew had been leaving ominous messages for him saying that he was going to kill the man and his mother. So he decided to start carrying an axe around for safety.
"You can't go wrong with an axe for self defense!" he informed you, patting the blade.
You considered telling him that you would probably choose something slightly less dramatic and more deniable. You personally kept a large flashlight powered by four D-cell batteries in your taxi for those purposes, which you were very aware was sitting on the seat next to you within arm's reach. And you habitually kept either a large monkey wrench or a baseball bat in your small hatchback car so that you would not be unarmed in case of any road rage incidents or nighttime breakdowns. Instead you simply nodded and smiled, eager to get the man out of your cab.
Turning down a side street, you informed the man that you are a shared ride company and you have another passenger to pick up. The man got a funny look on his face. "Oh," he asked. "Would you like for me to put this thing in the trunk? I don't want them to think I'm some sort of maniac..."
"It's fine, just keep it under your coat until we get you home," you told him. He nodded and complied and to your pleasant surprise he tipped you well. Your other passengers were none the wiser to the fact that he was well armed.
Time to choose something different: