Every once in a while, you stop believing in fate, in kismet, in the idea that there is a purpose for everything. And then fate trips you and you land in a huge puddle and ruin all of your clothes. But it saves you from being flattened by a semi. Or, you could say that fate snatches you from the jaws of danger and puts you on the sideline. Or maybe it just backhands you one to wake you up and say: "you imbecile, of course there is a purpose! How dare you question my existence!"
Yes, today, that once in a while became a now.
Yesterday I went out to a local hot spot with one of my best N.Y. friends, LB. My mom had been reminding me to invite her to brunch after church today, Sunday, and so we decided to meet at our fave restaurant at noon. Mom & I got there early, coming directly from choir & church. So LB shows up around 12:15 or so, and we tuck in. As the waitress came to take our plates away, we saw a police car go screaming down 59, headed towards downtown. We saw an SUV go by with lights and siren, and wondered what kind of service that was. As it happened, our waitress was part of the RV Ambulance Corps, and explained the lights system to us. So, mom went home and LB and I decided to head to a crafts store. We headed for home around 2:50 - 3:00 or so, and she forgot to turn the right way to drop me off, and I asked her where we were going, and she said: "to my house, I guess." So we drove up to the entrance to her street and saw cars. POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS tape, plain cars, police cars, all around her house and the house across the street. Her parents had just left for a week-long joyride, so it was just her and her cat. And she starts (rightly) freaking out. We ask a woman standing outside the tape what was going on (a reporter, no doubt), and she told us that they were investigating a shooting.
Long story short: Her next-door neighbor had been shot sometime about when the police cars we were wondering about went screaming down 59 to save him and take him to the hospital and find the perpetrator. And just after LB had left her house to go with us. We checked on her cat, she called her parents, her grandma called her three or four times, our other friend and I are going to stay with her tonight, and she's o.k. now. But we don't know anything about the shooting, if the guy is all right, just that the police took her name and DOB, address, and phone number, and mine (I must look suspicious) (funny side story, he asked her for my name and I gave my address and number, then asked us if we had my DOB, was he on crack?). So, we distracted ourselves, and I eventually went home (still no call from H., you're in the casa de perros, my boy). Like I said, going back tonight (probably).
So, ultimately, fate looked out for her on two accounts: I invited her out on a Sunday morning (not a usual time for people to go anywhere but to religious services), and I was with her so she wasn't alone when she got to her house. It creeps me out to think that maybe someone premeditated this and watched her house to see when she left. Because the way the police were talking, the shooter got away. No warning from the men in blue, either. Thanks, policia. We must be suspects. I can vouch for her from 12:15 onward, officer (woh, weird deja-vu experience just now...).
I guess you could say it was an unusual day. I'm still floating in that unreal state where you know you've somehow escaped danger, but haven't really understood tha full possibilites still.
Gotta dash - - - - ok, I feel better now ;-)
Un beso por la paz.
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Just....think. That's all.
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