Thursday, August 7, 2008

Fight or flight? Or call Andrew?

I had begun to worry about my fight or flight instincts when I realized I do absolutely nothing when faced with danger or at the scene of an accident. I watched a woman trip and have a pretty nasty fall last week and I was so surprised by it that I didn't do anything. I just stood there and looked at her. Three times in the past few weeks I nearly got hit by a car and a bus that was making a right turn. Instead of jumping out of the way I just stopped in my tracks and stared at the oncoming vehicle with my mouth hanging wide open.

Last night I got off the bus at 1:45 am and saw 2 homeless guys on the corner. My street was dark and no one else was out walking and I was a little worried that these homeless guys might think it was an opportune moment to mug or rape me. So I picked up the pace, looking over my shoulder the entire time, making sure they weren't following me. I called my roommate, Andrew, just so that he knew I was on my way home and if I wasn't there in 5 minutes to get out the shotgun. Of course, Andrew didn't answer. I was still looking over my shoulder and when I turned around to face forward I saw a man, standing withing 4 feet of me, in the street between two cars, with his shirt pulled up over his large potbelly and his pants down, and he was just staring at me. I screamed, "JESUS CHRIST!" and booked it. I only realized two blocks later that I was running and thought I must look like a lunatic, but wow, I actually reacted! I got in my apartment, out of breath, my heart racing out of my chest, and I cursed Andrew for not answering the phone and told him about the flasher pervert man. It was the same guy that I had seen late at night in front of my apartment about a month before. Andrew was skeptically ("maybe he's just peeing") and went outside to check out the situation. Fifteen minutes later he walked back in the apartment and anticlimactically told me he didn't see anyone but there were cops parked on the corner patrolling the street. Andrew told me not to worry, he told the cops that I was totally freaked out by some guy on the street who had flashed me. The cops asked Andrew what the guy looked like and Andrew replied, "Well, he's got a big belly and a penis." Thanks, Andrew.

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