same old, same old but not quite

I was asked to pick up Little g again this past Saturday

Her after school program is in the building I went to high school in

The same building where I met her mother

The same building that one of my sisters teaches at

I always try to get there early

One reason is to get a prime parking spot

Another reason is to just be able to sit and maybe read a bit or listen to the radio

Or sometimes to shoot a photo or two

I get Little g and we take a left, go one block and I notice a commotion, a police commotion. I hear a siren or two and I’m passed by two cop cars going the opposite direction. I slow a bit because I hear other sirens coming, I think “This must be close.”

I travel another block of the divided roadway and next I see is two marked cars and one unmarked car heading towards me about a block away heading the wrong way, I think the cars are on the wrong side because of the traffic that is impeding their progress. I pull over to let them go by. I see two young guys run in front of me, I think that they are just trying to beat the cop cars across the street. The cop cars don’t go by, they pull right in front of where I’ve stopped. Then I see the young guys put their hands against the wall, just like you see on tv, then I see why, several other cops come from the side street with their weapons drawn. The young guys lay on the sidewalk.

I think “Wow, I’ve never had front row seats before” and then Little g asks me “What’s going on?”

“A bust” I said. And then a car pulls up quickly behind me. Inside the car is a female not too happy with the situation, she gets out of her car and tells the cops of her concerns.

I look around, things are getting busy, too busy. I take a photo.

If it were just me in the truck I probably would have taken a few photos but cops are rather shy about photographs and I also start to feel the area is unsafe for Little g.

I start to pull away and Little g asks what I’m doing, “I’m getting out of here” is what I said. She wanted to stay and watch.

I had left enough room in front of my truck so I could pull out if I had to, and now I felt I had to.

I forced my truck through and left.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before” Little g said.

“Yeah, me neither” I told her.

I’ve seen arrests and disbursements before but I’ve never been front row when guns were drawn on the open street in a crowded neighborhood at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Then we went to the toy store.