Even my henchmen think I'm crazy
Sep. 8th, 2005 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trenchkamenI'm partially in Vicky's debt for her finding me a love song from the point of view of an evil genius on a mountain. When I find my special victim someone that will be my story.
So, Thursday evening at the 32nd street Goodwill. Things seem quiet enough, I've been dragged there out of my lately-common cerebral stupor, and my arm is laden with hangers. A cute little girl is passing me with an electric-pink wig telling her mommy that is what she wants to wear for Halloween.
Five-or-so minutes later, the cops have been called because that girl and her mother.
What happened, in capsulated form, is this: I half-heard an argument involving a woman telling somebody that "You can't keep me in here," and the girl begging for her mommy to stop... something. I was in the racks closest to the door, so I was able to look up and see pretty much all of what was going on. The girl's mother was trying to tug another lady's purse away from her while the other lady's husband tried to bar the door on her. At this point, given that I could not hear very well what was being said, I assumed the man was the perpetrator since the girl was screaming for him to stop, so I walked closer to see what was going to happen.
Honestly, I don't know what I was ready to do or actually going to do. My first inclination in those situations, as Kaity pointed out, is to try to talk things out like adults, but seventeen-some-odd years of people experience have taught me that sometimes people aren't going to listen before they do something rash, so I was psyching myself up to jump somebody if the need arose. By this point, the rest of the Goodwill had stopped to stare--looking over my shoulder, I was the closest person forward of the group--and the clerks were threatening to call the cops, but the four people pushed out the door. The girl was the last one out, and was in the isle screaming for help before she just screamed for a bit, and ran after her mother.
I did not see what happened after this, given that there were objects in the way and I had resigned myself to stand down, realizing that there was nothing I could do at that point, difficult as that was. From Kaity's vantage point she gathered that the girl's mother had been trying to steal that other lady's purse, and that somewhere in the argument she had hit the girl. Not one for sleight-of-hand, I guess, which convinces me that she's either incredibly dumb, or incredibly drugged, and neither one bodes well for that little girl. Kaity said she was also ready to jump the woman, which seems pretty par for the course for her, and her reflexes and reaction time are far better than mine given that she is less inclined to think before she acts. It would serve her well in a situation like that.
That, or we are both trying to convince ourselves that we would have done something heroic if the need arose, which is not too farfetched given our egos and empathy. (I still think we could have taken them down, Keiich, no prob etc.) I'm just worried about that little girl now.
On the upside of things, though I originally went into Goodwill on a mission to get new pants, I ended up with three new tops, which is pretty normal for me. I just have yet to find pants that are as comfortable and versatile as the "gray" ones. I found a lovely black turtleneck and a loud-as-hell red-and-black silk shirt, along with a waistcoat that should work for future costumes after a good ironing.
And, on other notes, I'm still out-of-it, and today was particularly bad. I've noticed myself using an unusually soft tone of voice and being unnecessarily vague to common questions. Mom thinks it's a lack of sleep. Whatever is she talking about.
Note to self: the #3 meal at McDonald's is a double Quarter Pounder, not the single.
So, Thursday evening at the 32nd street Goodwill. Things seem quiet enough, I've been dragged there out of my lately-common cerebral stupor, and my arm is laden with hangers. A cute little girl is passing me with an electric-pink wig telling her mommy that is what she wants to wear for Halloween.
Five-or-so minutes later, the cops have been called because that girl and her mother.
What happened, in capsulated form, is this: I half-heard an argument involving a woman telling somebody that "You can't keep me in here," and the girl begging for her mommy to stop... something. I was in the racks closest to the door, so I was able to look up and see pretty much all of what was going on. The girl's mother was trying to tug another lady's purse away from her while the other lady's husband tried to bar the door on her. At this point, given that I could not hear very well what was being said, I assumed the man was the perpetrator since the girl was screaming for him to stop, so I walked closer to see what was going to happen.
Honestly, I don't know what I was ready to do or actually going to do. My first inclination in those situations, as Kaity pointed out, is to try to talk things out like adults, but seventeen-some-odd years of people experience have taught me that sometimes people aren't going to listen before they do something rash, so I was psyching myself up to jump somebody if the need arose. By this point, the rest of the Goodwill had stopped to stare--looking over my shoulder, I was the closest person forward of the group--and the clerks were threatening to call the cops, but the four people pushed out the door. The girl was the last one out, and was in the isle screaming for help before she just screamed for a bit, and ran after her mother.
I did not see what happened after this, given that there were objects in the way and I had resigned myself to stand down, realizing that there was nothing I could do at that point, difficult as that was. From Kaity's vantage point she gathered that the girl's mother had been trying to steal that other lady's purse, and that somewhere in the argument she had hit the girl. Not one for sleight-of-hand, I guess, which convinces me that she's either incredibly dumb, or incredibly drugged, and neither one bodes well for that little girl. Kaity said she was also ready to jump the woman, which seems pretty par for the course for her, and her reflexes and reaction time are far better than mine given that she is less inclined to think before she acts. It would serve her well in a situation like that.
That, or we are both trying to convince ourselves that we would have done something heroic if the need arose, which is not too farfetched given our egos and empathy. (I still think we could have taken them down, Keiich, no prob etc.) I'm just worried about that little girl now.
On the upside of things, though I originally went into Goodwill on a mission to get new pants, I ended up with three new tops, which is pretty normal for me. I just have yet to find pants that are as comfortable and versatile as the "gray" ones. I found a lovely black turtleneck and a loud-as-hell red-and-black silk shirt, along with a waistcoat that should work for future costumes after a good ironing.
And, on other notes, I'm still out-of-it, and today was particularly bad. I've noticed myself using an unusually soft tone of voice and being unnecessarily vague to common questions. Mom thinks it's a lack of sleep. Whatever is she talking about.
Note to self: the #3 meal at McDonald's is a double Quarter Pounder, not the single.
