As I limped up through the nighted parking lot of the Aldis, I heard the giant metallic bumble bee sound of a blown muffler behind me and hobbled up onto the light pole island nearest me, not wanting to get bumped by the vehicle possibly used by a group of “bankers” or thug muggers cruising in cars.
Behind me came a red SUV piloted by one middle aged black man, consulting a smart phone in his left hand. He is at first interested in me but then goes back to the phone when he sees me guarding against and attack.
He passes me, then parks by the stairs to the sidewalk I use and I nervously pass him.
He is obviously intent on meeting someone and now knows that I am not this person.
After I walk by he starts up his old Jimmy SUV and darts across Eastern Avenue to the driveway of the prefabricated housing development.
Two old dudes, one lost, the other loosing, passing in the night.
A hobbled on, strangely wishing him well in the back of this wintry mind.
Something like this, when it happens, will have the weak-minded in your life encouraging you to not be suspicious of lone men, or of groups of men passing you in the night without a clear pattern of travel. Ideally, this is practice. The more of this kind of behavior you can qualify through observations and come to the conclusion that it is a drug buy, a gay man meet up, or even someone playing Pokemon, the better you will be prepared to pick out the real threat.
The Boned Zone: Surviving Urban Predation
Don't Get Boned: The Harm City Handbook
Winter in a Dying City
