“A long walk home”
By
Joseph DiBartolo
The
click of his phone closing was drowned out by an obscenity James blurted out as
he exited the restaurant and discovered it was raining. His call to his friend Greg went unanswered,
which means that he got drunk and passed out so James would be walking home
from work. James, being the conventional
type of course had his umbrella with him.
As he began to open the gigantic awning of an umbrella, two police cars
went by with great haste in the same direction he was walking. He instantly began wondering what was going
on that required such urgency for the police.
Although leading a mundane life for the most part he often longed for
some adventure or even danger.
About
a mile into his 5 mile hike on this damp Boston night James became startled by
a sudden commotion coming from a nearby alleyway. Without hesitation he dashed into the dark
narrow corridor to see what was happening.
As he turned the corner he instantly reacted to the man running towards
him with a woman’s purse by lowering his shoulder and spearing him into the
dumpster immediately rendering him unconscious.
He kept his composure and grabbed the purse and headed down the alley
towards the woman who was a bit shaken up to say the least. James was at a loss for words as he
approached the woman due to her unmatched beauty.
“Are
you alright?” asked James, as he handed the woman her purse. “Yes, thank you so much,” she replied. “My name is Natasha, what’s yours?” “Hey, I’m James” he said, beginning to get a
bit nervous due to his lack of experience talking to women. Luckily, before he said anything asinine, her
ride pulled up. She told James that she
worked across the street at the bookstore and that he should come to visit
her. After thanking him again for his
courageous act, she jumped in the faded red jeep and departed.
Before
James continued his walk home he went to see if the thief had a pulse. He was relieved to find that he did and then
quickly got out of there before anyone saw him.
After jogging for a few minutes to put some distance between him and the
unknown perpetrator, James realized he dropped his umbrella during the
incident. The rain had subsided by this
point and he was not about to go back to find it. It was quiet out being that it was late and
not much traffic around. He began to
replay the incident again in his head with the thief and the beautiful Natasha. With an almost goofy smile of satisfaction on
his face, James was unaware that his 5 mile adventure was just beginning.
As
James continued to recap the earlier event his thoughts were interrupted by the
sound of sirens. It seemed the sirens
were getting louder and louder which could only mean that they were getting
closer. The possibility of someone
seeing what happened made him think the fuzz was coming for him. He quickly ducked into an alleyway only to
see a man running by who happened to drop a small package on the wet
sidewalk. Only seconds later two police
vehicles made their way past my location at dangerously high speeds. Although relieved that they were not after
him, James could not take his eyes off the small brown envelope just laying a
few feet from him.
Looking
at the little brown envelope with much scrutiny, James calmly grabbed it and
instantly knew what was inside. He gave
a quick glance in each direction and continued heading home at a rapid
pace. Quickly peeking inside he could see
the thick stack of hundreds. His heart
began racing making it hard for him to keep his composure. As James passed the next alleyway he noticed
a woman and her daughter curled up together by the dumpster. He thought to himself that these could only
be ill-gotten gains and should be put to good use. Without counting James took a stack of cash
from the envelope and gave it to the woman with advice to go find a motel and
some food.
For
the next half mile he kept his head on a swivel looking out for anyone
suspicious. Up to this point in his
journey home he almost felt like some sort of superhero who could do anything. Overwhelmed with feelings of excitement and
anxiety, James attempted to calm himself with thoughts of his next encounter
with the lovely bookstore girl. This
feeling of bliss almost made him forget about the massive stack of cash bulging
from his back pocket. He had never seen
so much cash nor had this much adventure in his entire tedious existence. Things had seemed to calm down a bit as he
passed by the local watering hole that was known for their unsavory
clientele.
Still
deep in thought about the recent events James thought he noticed Natasha inside
the bar. The bar was packed so he could
not be certain. Not wanting to push his
luck or look to eager he decides not to go in.
Whether it was her or not it really stimulated his imagination. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, James
noticed a black SUV quickly pass and something didn’t seem quite right. The woman driving looked panicked from the
brief glimpse he got. It seemed as if
she was trying to stop but couldn’t.
Then as she came to the intersection she was plowed by a black sedan
that had the green light.
The
loud collision was heard by everyone around, and inside the pub, even with the
music blaring. James and a couple others
ran over to assist as another woman quickly dialed 911. He was able to pull the little boy from the
car seat which was miraculously still in tact.
The brunt of the blow was on the front end, and the other man pulled the
woman out, who seemed to have a broken arm.
Shortly after the rescue, the paramedics showed up and quickly attended
to the woman and her son. James heard
applause coming from behind him and turned to see that the entire pub had
emptied onto the street. It only took a
second for him to recognize that the woman clapping the loudest and running
towards him was Natasha.
“Oh
my god James that was great,” said Natasha, as she approached him in the middle
of the mayhem. “Hey you, I thought I saw
you in there as I passed by but then the accident happened,” James
replied. “So is this an average night
for you, going around saving people all night long?” asked Natasha. As he was just about to answer, James noticed
the man who dropped his envelope full of cash was in the crowd staring right at
him. The thick brown envelope was
bulging from his back pocket in plain sight for the stranger to see. Drawing attention to myself trying to play
superhero was probably not the smartest idea considering the night I had, James
thought to himself. “Hey Natasha, I
gotta get goin,” he quickly said. “I’ll
walk with you,” she said. Feeling uneasy
about letting her come thinking this guy may follow, James agreed and they
departed the scene.
They
had been walking for about ten minutes now, and there was no indication that
the stranger was tailing them. James
would still give a quick glance over his shoulder every couple of minutes to be
safe. They had been getting to know each
other a bit during their stroll, and James became more relaxed as they neared
his apartment. Suddenly James heard the
sound of a man clearing his throat behind them, no doubt to get their
attention. He quickly turned and noticed
the man standing there, shivering, perhaps in fear of the much larger
James. As he walked towards the little
man, James turned to Natasha telling her to stay back, unaware the man was
concealing a pocket knife up his sleeve, James walked right into a brutal
assault to the ribs. Dropping to his
knees holding his ribcage, the assailant quickly snatched the envelope along
with his wallet and took off into a dark alley.
Natasha began screaming frantically as she rifled through her purse
looking for her phone, and called 911.
A
couple hours had gone by since James passed out, and was now starting to come
to. In a bit of a daze, the bright white
walls made him think he was in either heaven or the hospital. Seeing Natasha’s face did not make him come
to any conclusions as to where he was since she looked like an angel. Then the doctor walking in made James realize
he was still alive. The doctor told him
he would be a little weak due to the blood loss, but he would be just
fine. With a feeling of relief, James
turned his attention to the door as his friend Greg walked in with a guilty
look on his pale face.
His
first instinct when Greg walked in was to get up and pummel him. Then reason was able to prevail, and James
realized that Greg not answering the phone was the best thing that ever
happened to him. If it had not been for
his unreliable, drunk of a friend, James would not have met Natasha the way he
did, or save the people he did. In a
way, Greg was the real hero because he set this whole night in motion. The knife wound was even warmly welcomed
because the scar will forever remind James of the greatest night of his
life. Just as Greg was about to speak,
James grabbed his forearm and said, “Thank you”. Finally, he laid his head back, closed his
eyes, and smiled from ear to ear.
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