Good Afternoon;
Well my restored faith was pretty short lived last night. First on the Light Rail I got to listen to the racist redneck rantings of a half a dozen 20 something, Aryan Nation wannabes/FPBA, (Future Prison 'Bitches' of America), on their way back from a 'boosting' spree for crystal meth, PCP, & heroin money..(their words)..from stores along the route of the "Rob'n Ride'. They were being loud and abusive towards a group of what looked like first year college girls, [very young, very diverse in ethnic make up, and very removed from, ever having dealt with scum from the gutter like these], crudely hitting on the white girls and making derogatory and thinly veiled sexually violent allusions towards the 2 Asian and 3 Middle Eastern girls, one of whom was wearing the minimal headscarf worn by liberal Muslim women that is much as a fashion item as a religious one.
The girls were getting visibly nervous and I was debating whether getting involved with the odds what they were and the likelihood of unseen weapons when these 2 older white homeless guys (who I've seen enough for us to acknowedge each other's presence with a nod), who had been sleeping in the seats beside the center doors of the train, (2 seats on either side of the aisle that are somewhat isolated and removed from the main body of seats), get up as the train pulls into the next stop and walk over and stand above the group of assholes, and tell them, "This is your stop, get the f*ck off". Two of the scumbags start to rise up, reaching into their pockets, and I stand up and begin to walk over, when the old guy who spoke looks at me, and shakes his head and says "We got this.....they're ours", and I sat down. The other guy meanwhile reached out with his cane and caught the loudest, biggest, nastiest piece of shit on the back of the neck, pulling him forehead first into the stainless steel upright pole on the end of the seat, and cracks the other one reaching for his pocket on the point of the elbow, so hard and loud MY arm ached....lol. Then they started jabbing all of them with their canes shouting, 'off, off, now, now', and other choice phrases, as the rest of the car laughed as the 6 fools fell over one another down the steps of the exit, landing in a heap on the plat form and getting up and running away when these guys who had to be in their 60s at least made as if to come after them.
They asked the girls if they were OK and went back to their seats and gathered their bags, as I was gathering mine and got off the next stop same as I did, but for different reasons....just in case the cameras in the train car were working, (a 50/50 shot with the MTA), they wanted to be long gone. They thanked me for starting to come help but said they had been looking for this group for a while for personal reasons...and when I remarked that they let them get off easy...they laughed and showed me some modifications to the handles and bottoms of their canes.......yeah, I saw what they meant! Sticks and stones indeed! As we parted company I saw the first man pull up his sleeve and noticed his tattoo. The noticed me looking and grinned and the second man nodded to say, me too. So with a brisk "Semper Fi", and an abbreviated salute I said farewell and caught my bus. Next time I see these guys, and it came to me that where I had first seen them had been on a bitter cold January night about 3 years ago at the M.C.V.E.T.S. (Md. Center for Veterans Education & Training Shelter), I am going to try to draw out their story.
And I can't swear to it but as I passed the North Ave. L.R. stop I saw the group of fascist bastards being hassled by a group of their "opposite numbers" from the hood as 2 police cars with blue and red lights flashing sped in to the entry road........one can only wish to be a fly on the wall as they tried to explain away the mass quantities of popular street salable merchandise in their possession with no receipts.....and as Gollum wondered about Bilbo.....I'd be curious to know...."What has it got in it's pockets"....and how it was explained to the cops also......LOL!
So the rest of my detoured trip back was uneventful until I got on the Metro Subway and got stuck on a car as the only white guy on a car full of genuine 'thugs' (it was a single car train and the doors had shut before I, not very wisely I admit, took a good look at my surroundings....ulp!), playing gangsta rap at full volume and smoking Newports and 'blunts' openly. As the muttering began, after a minute of tense silence, the train luckily was between 2 very close stations and the 'crew' was pretty well stoned close to immobility, the doors opened and at the last second I ducked out just as they closed and locked!
Taking a closer look I took the next train and before I got off checked the platform for threats. I ran into a familiar regular rider and one of our regular drivers on the bus to Pikesville and related the story of the smoky car and the bus driver said he had heard a radio call for the Metro Police to meet the train a bit further down the line.
After stopping in the Giant and the gas station I went into the shed. The door seemed 'loose' on it's hinges and chain lock and when I got inside and reached to turn on the light, all I got was a 'click'. Dead bulb I thought, while having a feeling of...."No it isssnnn'ttt.....", and after trying a new bulb, checking the connection of the cord, and checking the extension cord in the outside socket, and just to be sure plugging the fan in outside.....ALL Nada!
I noticed the top 'cap/door' of the weatherproof outside receptacle was opened, not closed as usual, and as I shone my little flashlight around signs that someone has been hanging out under the carport. I hurried to the Giant to get 'D' batteries for my regular size flashlight and with it's more powerful beam checked the surrounding area.
Oh lovely, stolen empty cases and (HA!) anti-theft devices from a couple of porno DVDs, (and cheap, nasty, sleazy, low budget ones at that!), and a half pint of Jack Daniels and a couple of "40s" of malt liquor, all empty and a couple of empty cigarette boxes and the tobacco dumped from a cheap flavored cigar, (to get the wrapper leaves for a 'blunt) scattered about...simply f*ckin' lovely. The whole outdoor socket was loose and the face plate had a gap in it. Now what I figure is that the assholes either forced the plug from their portable DVD player in there, shorting out the wires inside the junction box, yanked it out hard with the same result, or allowed water inside and shorted it out, any of which would, hopefully, trip the circuit breaker in the breaker box....somewhere inside the locked office building!
So...it was a quick sandwich by flashlight after I quickly changed into sweatpants and sleeping sweatshirt and set up the sleeping bag and blankets....after double checking all my locking and security measures.
It was a cold night and between the ache in my foot from a lingering attack of gout the night before at Jenn's, a lingering runny nose exacerbated by the cold air, a sleeping bag with a zipper that will no longer 'lock' at the top end of it's track, but keeps opening as I move, indigestion and a regular reaching out for the Tums, and the reasonable paranoia after having my 'home' violated and vandalized......sleep was long in coming, short in duration, interrupted by an urgent and impossible to put off run to the gas station about 4:00 am., then starting at every voice I heard pass by once it got light, (I was hoping to catch the gentleman from Harview Roofing if he happened to come by again, both to thank him for the Quiznos card, and ask him to check the breaker....(discreetly if possible...lol). I was in and out over and over again until I must have fallen asleep just before 9:30 am., which I had actually chosen as time to get up and out, and woke up, dressed and left there about 11:15 am., still tired.
After using the bathroom at the Giant, (nerves?), a few times while shopping, I ended up here at Starbucks about 1:30 pm., (I was in no mood to put up with the waiting room at JAI today). I ran into my friend Stewart, (picture the words..'softspoken little old man'.. and you will have a visual....lol... and we talked for a few hours before I had to eat or pass out. Then I turned on the computer.....and it's 6:30 pm. already!
I may be on again before I leave....no power in the shed and no battery life on this laptop....which reminds me I got so caught up in things and the weather that I have not talked to Eric since I dropped off the [s]laptop!
Later................................Dave
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