I flew in from California on a redeye yesterday morning, and called for the van to take me to the long-term parking lot. I was alone with the driver. After some small talk about the rough flight, and the rain and wind at the airport, he asked me what I did. I told him I was a writer.

"You write for newspapers or magazines?"

"Right now I'm working on a book."

"What kind of book?"

"I'm helping someone with a memoir."

"Your own?"

"No. His."

"You're ghostwriting?"

"Yes."

"I've got a friend, I keep telling him he should write his story. I don't know how good he can write but he sure has good stories to tell."

"What's his story?"

I didn't pay too much attention to the details of the friend's lineage, but it involved his Colombian father dealing drugs and getting killed at a young age and, I think, a stepfather who was in the same business. Now the friend was, too.

"Man, he's got so many stories. He's only 20, younger than me, and he's got $5 million stashed away."

"That's a lot of money."

"He's smart. He doesn't use drugs himself. He's a businessman. He didn't make the people addicts. He just sells to them. If he didn't, someone else would."

"It's a dangerous business."

"He's smart about it, though. He's not going to get caught."

"He probably has to worry more about other dealers than law enforcement."

"Nah. People respect him, respect his family. Let's just say he has the right blood. His uncle, he was shot down in the middle of Junction Blvd. His family, it's respected. It's paid it's dues. "

"That's my point."

"Well, I keep telling his he ought to write about it. I'd be a character, a main character. But not as an autobiography or nothing. Nobody cares about a kid from Junction. He should write it as a story.

We'd arrived at the lot, and were backing up to the trailer where the office was located. The driver looked at me.

"We'll, I hope maybe I gave you a story to work with."

I looked back at him.

"I've heard it before," I said.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess there's a lot of stories like this."