update - 5:22 am: funny how hard it is to sleep when almost being robbed at gunpoint. still wide awake 7 1/2 hrs later. not good. not good at all. might as well start to fix typos...
came home late from the barn tonite - stopped by the grocery to wander and pick to walk off the sad news that one of the dressage olympians and a well-respected judge and rider had died recently. it upset me for this is where my boys lived until i came off sani and broke my back. (my fault - long story - but MY fault!)
anyway, was saddened by her passing, so i stopped in the store to wander and kill a bit of time.
when i got home, it was nearly 10pm and, as per usual, two of the housemates (who should never want to own a car in new york because ny'ers are brutal on parking space hogs) had taken up three spaces, as usual. i groused and snarled and drove to the end of the block to make a u-turn at the 4-way stop about 100 yds down from the house. there was a car sitting at the stop sign when i pulled up.
i stopped and waited for him to pass through the intersection, but he just SAT there. and sat. and sat. finally, i blew my horn and blew it again and he drove slowly through the intersection. i did my u'ie and pulled around to find the space opposite the house was just a WEE bit to small for me to park without using braille - and, already upset, i didn't want to chance taking out my frustrations on two innocent bumpers.
follow me (er... bad choice of words, as you'll see) over the jump.
i drove back to the opposite end of the block where it dead ends and did another u-ie - i'm good at them and headed back to try to find another spot - one good one was filled by the trash containers out for tomorrow's pick up... more annoyance - then back to the three spaces filled by two inconsiderate drivers and decided i'd just squeeze into the front of our active drive and move in the morning.
my friend was coming out to put out our trash containers when she said, "let me move MY car across the street - i'll fit - and you park in the driveway - i'll go get my keys".
well, if you're still with me, here's where it gets very interesting.
you see, as i pulled out, did yet another u-ie to come back around to fit into the driveway after my friend moved her car, i see the same black car coming from the opposite way (where we "t-bone" into another street and i made the second u-ie). i've pulled up in front of the neighor's drive near another space too close to the corner (car back ends get rearranged on a regular basis from those inexperienced in donuts) and am waiting. i see headlights in my rear view mirror just sitting - staring at my brake lights. the same black car is now about three car lengths back from the intersection facing my direction.
the bastard turned around and was back for the third friggin' time.
i am now pissed. i'm figuring that this is a drug dealer waiting for his customer - my first instinct when he didn't move from the intersection the first time. i'm debating calling the pd now or when i get inside - i'm waiting on my friend to come out - and watching the bastard watch me.
(i'm sure now someone will start howling how i'm picking on poor drug dealers, or misjudging the poor souls, but wait before you leap to conclusions until AFTER you finish reading this, please!)
well, my friend walks out after about five minutes with that damned car still hovering behind me - she heads to her car, backs out and starts to park - only THEN did the car finally pull into the intersection and turn to his left toward where we had our shootout at mickey d's on sunday.
a young woman in a strange car (for our block - we know everybody) gets out of the car ahead of her then gets back into it - which was surprising because we hadn't seen anyone in sitting in the car that had been there for 15 minutes minimum.
i pull in and tell my friend about the black car - a 1990s japanese car 2-door (recognize the silloutte since i used to sell them). she says what i'm thinking - call the pd and let them know about both cars. something isn't right - we both feel it.
i go inside and dial the dispatch number and tell her about the not normal behavior of the "car" and that it might be the drug dealers acting up again. she asks what i saw, make, model, how many people, can i identify, etc.
i tell her that all i really saw was a dull black car - late 90s japanese - 2 door when she suddenly asks me to wait on hold.
she came back and asked if i would mind answering a few more questions.
no problem.
did i see a license plate? did i see any distinguishing marks? how many occupants? did i see any weapons. she kept asking if i saw any weapons.
i told her i couldn't really see much more, but, to be helpful, i walk outside to see if the car is back. i told her that i was outside looking when she immediately told me to go inside and make sure everyone was inside with the doors locked.
while i was on the phone making the report, that same car was involved in an armed robbery around the corner. WHILE i was making the report, they held up someone at gunpoint! that was less than five minutes after i walked into the house - after that car had waited at the intersection for me to go first - after that same car had circled the block, gone through the intersection and sat watching me and my car for five minutes while i waited for my friend to move her car.
i now realize that had i parked a few spaces down that i would have been that victim robbed at gunpoint. the time it would have taken me to gather my groceries (in multiple little plastic veggie bags because we now have to pay for REAL bags and i left mine home since i wasn't going to go shopping) that I would have been the target of choice.
i felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up when i first saw the car. thank god for my new york instincts kicking in again. the second time i saw them, i was only pissed. when they sat and watched me - JUST far enough from the intersection to not look "suspicious", i couldn't take my eyes off that car in the rear view mirror and side mirror. it just didn't "feel right".
my mistake was thinking they were dealing drugs - not out to rob someone. now i know to be even more vigilant around here - spring is on us - the criminals and nasties are out in force.
i am eternally grateful for a police department that responds immediately when called. they were here within minutes to check out the strange car - she checked out okay and she also knows to not sit in her car in the dark around here right now.
so, i TTP - THANK THE POLICE - for being there - telling me to get inside and why - to stay safe and they were "on the way". don't know if i'll get much sleep tonite - just like sunday - i'm wired.
it isn't a good feeling - we are in strange times where some people don't value life, some people only see opportunity to steal, to harm, to terrorize... and, yes, tonite, i'll confess to having major ptsd - this brings back every incident where one's safety has been compromised, where one doesn't feel "safe" on one's own turf and it is no accident that i suddently switched to third person - not ready to say I don't feel safe and I feel threatened. tomorrow, i'll suck it up with the usual bravado.
tonite, i'm still shaking...
5:43 AM PT: just remembered more of the conversation with the dispatcher. after she kept asking if i saw any weapons, any guns - she repeatedly said "don't touch anything, just call us - it is evidence"
also, when she asked me to answer a few more questions and i told her i was outside, after she told me to get inside immediately, she told me the car i had seen was JUST used in an armed robbery. i heard her say over the phone to someone else "black honda civic" - and i was puzzled because i'd said "black japanese car".
after i hung up, got on the computer and looked up the civic year models - and, yep, between 1991 and 1994 model 2 door was the car i'd seen. funny how being a former car sales rep for honda/acura makes those sillouettes unforgettable.
5:43 am and counting.... casings, not sheep. keep going back to the young man on sunday who spotted the missed casing from sunday's mayhem.
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