mugging

okay, so i guess i should write about the attempted mugging on saturday night. actually i'll start with the evening in general - headed to the city (yes we outer borough folks call it "the city" not manhattan) around midnight to meet a friend for a late show at the landmark sunshine cinema. it was the Q train out of brooklyn, and somewhere on the manhattan bridge a brawl breaks out between a woman and a young teenage boy. this boy was with many of his friends, making jokes and causing noise. he then grabbed this woman's ass, which caused her to flip out and start hitting and slapping him. his friends intervened and restrained them from each other, she yelling how dare he, didn't his mother raise him better, and he continues with some jeering taunts about how she's a bitch, she deserves it, etc. she finally bursts out something along the lines of how she is a lawyer and did he really want to have charges pressed against him? his friends immediately hushed and told him to stop, and he hung his head with the occasional muttering.

wow. drama. is it a full moon or what?

after the movie and a slice of pizza, i do the trek back to union square for the multi-train ride home. it's about 3am. the subways are thinning out, there is plenty of space to sit down. a lot of passengers are passed out or just plain tired. i transfer across the platform to another train and settle into a quiet car. i pull out my book and commence reading (jane austen's persuasion). i'm mostly ignoring the world, occasionally glancing up when the train stops. there is a black kid with a red backpack standing at the left end of the car, a guy and his wife sitting across the way from me, and diagonally from me across the doors is a guy in a dr pepper shirt doing a crossword. we are pulling up to a stop, the kid is crossing over to the doors next to the dr pepper guy. as the doors open, the kid grabs dr pepper guy's backpack and attempts to flee with it, but dr pepper guy hangs on. as they scuffle back and forth for a bit, i get up as does the guy across from me. we close in on the kid from behind, dr pepper guy gives his backpack one last yank, and i lightly push my hand on the back of the kid shoving him out of the doors onto the platform. the kid yells something but we can't understand what as the doors close on him. the train pulls away and we return to our respective seats.

dr pepper guy is in shock. he keeps saying "Wow.... wow..... oh my god.... wow." at one point he thanks us, then he starts digging through his bag. "what was he going to take? my toothpaste? some papers??" the guy w/ the wife then says "did you see that knife?" dr pepper guy is wide eyed, nods and says yeah. yeah? uh what?? i say that i didn't see a knife. i quietly think holy shit and don't add that if i known he had a knife i wouldn't have done anything. for papers? really? i don't know though. my heart isn't racing. that was interesting and woke me up a bit, but other than that just another attempt at mugging. i have thoughts about what if it was me? but i have my doubts as i wouldn't have been as easy a target for a grab and run - i had my chrome bag strapped around my body, both arms hugging it to my chest. despite the excitement, there isn't much else to say or do. dr pepper guy is still amazed. i nod once in a while, give a polite friendly smile, and eventually return to my book.