From the week of 4/12-4/17, 2020
It was a white guy. I saw him when he rolled me over and cocked his hand back to punch me. Then I remember standing in front of my apartment door speaking with the security man and a policeman. I had stopped at the bar in downtown Portland near the [redacted] where I worked and had a few beers and was walking home.
I grow my bangs down over my forehead so it won’t show.
[It looks like a white scar on her beige forehead in the shape that is left on a windshield when a tiny stone hits it at high speed.]
I cracked my cervical spine when I fell forward after being hit in the forehead here. The doctor thought it was an air gun. But the veterans at [redacted] say that this…
[Looks like a purple bruise indented into her forehead at the hair line above the right eye.]
They say this is the hot muzzle of a small gun, a twenty-two or a twenty-five. They said if it was an old round, the powder might be low-powered. The shot did glance off and it was partially due to the thickness of my skull, which was determined to be abnormal.
[I see that he obviously shot her from a come-in angle at least 90 degrees that would have been lethal in the temple which it missed by an inch or two.]
I fell face forward. He then obviously rolled me over, I saw him pulling his hand back and he punched me and it went dark. The cervical spine broke and had to be fused.
[The permanent bruise-burn was angled perfectly to come from a punch with the shorter .25 auto which is a favorite stick-up piece.]
I don’t remember how I got home, just coming to consciousness while the security guard spoke with me. He knew me so he took the lead and the police officer was there in his official capacity.
It’s good to have a hard head.
I’m glad I passed it on to my son.
A thick head comes in handy when life goes hard.
-Mamma Waters
