violent surroundings
Do I start when we came up on the police tape at Seattle Center? Or when we saw a small fight get broken up while waiting for a cab? Or when I forgot I’m a skinny white girl and asked, “Gotta problem with him, son?”
Saturday night was violent. We heard a lot of sirens before heading over a couple blocks to catch Flowmotion play at Seattle Center, but didn’t think much of it. Then we stumbled onto the scene of the shooting at the hippie-filled Folklike Festival. The sirens made sense now, but how fucked up is that? Anyway, we weren’t sure what happened when we rounded the corner, saw all the tape, the shirts reading something like Seattle Gang Unit. I looked around and then at Luc, “Lotsa tape and uniforms. Gotta be a shooting or stabbing.” He agreed.
We caught the band (awesome!), took care of social graces and met up with another friend to head out. As we waited for a cab up to the hill, we saw two guys start throwing punches at each other. They were about a block away, at a gas station. Luc pointed them out and then as fast as it started, it stopped. People ran up and pulled the men apart. We all looked at each other — what the hell has gotten into people? There’s no full moon, right?
The last part of the night was by far the closest we got to any violence. A little too close. I won’t go into all the gory details, other than that none of our little group was hurt, despite the guys’ good samaritan efforts in breaking up an unfair fight. I did see someone get up in my friend’s face, at which point I got pissed, forgot how scrawny I really am, walked up to this slightly larger and definitely stronger than me young man and initiated a conversation. It turned out fine — I mean, I’m typing this, right? But I realized that had he been any less rational or more drunk, well, let’s just say I should stay in the bar next time.
It looked really nice outside today. Luc and I stayed inside. He was a little hungover, but I really just wanted to hide. And watch The Wire. I needed to put violence and that ‘if I think you dissed me, I’ll get you’ thing, that whole mentality — the kinda stuff I wish only existed on TV and in the movies — I needed all that back at a comfortable distance after hearing “fuck you, bitch” from a guy with a knife in his belt.
Update: More on the Folklife shooting. Makes me sad.
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Yikes! Scary stuff. Glad you made it home safe.
-E
Thanks, me too! Yeah, it was quite a night.