I Need To Write This Out
When we first moved to New York, a boy who delivered newspapers had just been kidnapped. I was so young that it didn't seem real somehow. Between my age and not knowing the boy and not seeing how it affected anything in my world, it just ... was a story to know.
When my brother and I were little, we were walking home from school together and we noticed a car driving behind us, very slowly. We both noticed it. My brother said on the count of three, we would run home. He counted and we did. We locked the door behind us, and for once, didn't play our cruel game where whoever gets inside first locks the other one out. (This game somehow involved the phrase 'It's the plumber; I've come to fix the sink' which we found hilarious at the time.
A couple of months after I moved here, in the early morning I was waiting outside my apartment building for Enterprise to come pick me up so I could rent a car for the day. As I sat on the bench outside, a homeless man wandered up. He came over to me and grabbed my shoulder and said something. I was sitting in a corner, and had no place I could go but through him.
I shrank back and looked into his eyes. He wasn't seeing me. I could see that. Something passed over him and he realized I wasn't whoever he was seeing inside his crazy mind, and he let go of me. It all happened very fast, in less time than it took you to read about it.
The Enterprise people came, I rented my car, picked up my friends, and got on with my day. I put it behind me, thinking "Hey, this is a city - shit like this can happen."
All in all I've had good experiences living in San Francisco. There are more homeless people here than I saw in Boston, and the homeless here are more aggressive than the homeless in Manhattan, but they're not really aggressive. I feel safe here. Not safe in that "It's so safe here, I don't need to lock my doors" kind of way, but in a "I can deal with the unsafe aspects of living in a city just fine."
Today my friend and her daughter were leaving my place. We sat on the steps outside as the darkness surrounded us during dinner time, talking about nothing. Eventually we hugged goodbye, and they began the three block walk home. My phone was ringing as I unlocked my front door - it was my friend. I stopped as I answered the phone, figuring my friend's daughter would need me to run back down to the street - for another hug goodbye or I forgot to give her something I'd been holding for her.
But no. My friend was calling to tell me that a man had grabbed her daughter. While she was holding her hand. She was fine. I shrugged out of my coat as we talked about what to do, what exactly had happened. She didn't want to call 911, because it wasn't an emergency. I suggested calling the local police station, since she'd seen him. Since surely the police have some protocol for dealing with potential abductors.
She did call, and they do have a system in place. My friend was encouraged to go to the police station in person when she can. What kind of kidnapper would be so brazen as to try to grab a kid holding their mother's hand? I've never heard of that happening - which made me wonder if the guy wasn't seeing reality. Where could his head have been to think of taking a child that so clearly belonged to someone?
Doesn't make it acceptable. Just a little more understandable. This is so big, it's hard for me to wrap my head around. I can't imagine how hard it must be for my friend. And yet, how easy since luckily her daughter's hand never left hers until they got home safely tonight.
When my brother and I were little, we were walking home from school together and we noticed a car driving behind us, very slowly. We both noticed it. My brother said on the count of three, we would run home. He counted and we did. We locked the door behind us, and for once, didn't play our cruel game where whoever gets inside first locks the other one out. (This game somehow involved the phrase 'It's the plumber; I've come to fix the sink' which we found hilarious at the time.
A couple of months after I moved here, in the early morning I was waiting outside my apartment building for Enterprise to come pick me up so I could rent a car for the day. As I sat on the bench outside, a homeless man wandered up. He came over to me and grabbed my shoulder and said something. I was sitting in a corner, and had no place I could go but through him.
I shrank back and looked into his eyes. He wasn't seeing me. I could see that. Something passed over him and he realized I wasn't whoever he was seeing inside his crazy mind, and he let go of me. It all happened very fast, in less time than it took you to read about it.
The Enterprise people came, I rented my car, picked up my friends, and got on with my day. I put it behind me, thinking "Hey, this is a city - shit like this can happen."
All in all I've had good experiences living in San Francisco. There are more homeless people here than I saw in Boston, and the homeless here are more aggressive than the homeless in Manhattan, but they're not really aggressive. I feel safe here. Not safe in that "It's so safe here, I don't need to lock my doors" kind of way, but in a "I can deal with the unsafe aspects of living in a city just fine."
Today my friend and her daughter were leaving my place. We sat on the steps outside as the darkness surrounded us during dinner time, talking about nothing. Eventually we hugged goodbye, and they began the three block walk home. My phone was ringing as I unlocked my front door - it was my friend. I stopped as I answered the phone, figuring my friend's daughter would need me to run back down to the street - for another hug goodbye or I forgot to give her something I'd been holding for her.
But no. My friend was calling to tell me that a man had grabbed her daughter. While she was holding her hand. She was fine. I shrugged out of my coat as we talked about what to do, what exactly had happened. She didn't want to call 911, because it wasn't an emergency. I suggested calling the local police station, since she'd seen him. Since surely the police have some protocol for dealing with potential abductors.
She did call, and they do have a system in place. My friend was encouraged to go to the police station in person when she can. What kind of kidnapper would be so brazen as to try to grab a kid holding their mother's hand? I've never heard of that happening - which made me wonder if the guy wasn't seeing reality. Where could his head have been to think of taking a child that so clearly belonged to someone?
Doesn't make it acceptable. Just a little more understandable. This is so big, it's hard for me to wrap my head around. I can't imagine how hard it must be for my friend. And yet, how easy since luckily her daughter's hand never left hers until they got home safely tonight.
Labels: Asshat, City Livin, Potential Depth, Pounding the pavement
posted by Green at 12/02/2007 10:50:00 PM
3 Comments:
how terrifying. i'm so glad that they were left unscathed.
i grew up in la where the homeless are everywhere, but was shocked at the aggressive nature of the homeless in san francisco. i had one try to pry my watch off of my wrist. and when i wouldn't give it to him, he flicked me off. all from his wheelchair.
i'm so glad your friend was holding her daughter's hand and hope they find the creep.
Scary. Glad your friend and her daughter were okay.
It's not the ones who aren't seeing reality that scare me, but the ones who know exactly what they are doing and may have even been planning it.
Where I live, things like that don't happen often. People start to feel safe to the point where some don't lock their doors except when they leave the house. Their children walk several blocks to and from school with only the security of an older child. There might be more crime in the city, but when there is, I think city dwellers are more prepared for it. It tends to turn country people's worlds upside down.
That's a terrifying story. I'm glad they are safe.
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