Well, today was no different, except that after I had taken only a couple of grateful sips of my shot of espresso and spread the classifieds out before me in giddy anticipation, I made a customary glance toward the window to check on my baby and the asshole was trying to make off with it. Now I'm no violent guy, but I saw red. Luckily he was having trouble getting the chain extracted from the leg of a chair the bike had been parked behind, so I had time to run outside and pounce on him before he got very far. In my excited state, I grabbed him by the neck and pulled him off the bike and he freaked, yelling some unintelligible gibberish. I started cussing him out and the manager of the store ran out and sort of took him from me, pushing the guy down the sidewalk and threatening to call the cops on him. Good lord, I was pissed. Coffee was no longer necessary; the adrenaline was cruising through me. I don't know what I would do without my bike.
But the sad thing is, I just lost whatever simple feelings about Five Points I had. I realize that you just can't leave expensive things out in the open -- too much temptation for the weak -- but it really does feel good when you can. And I do, frequently. I like the feeling like I can trust people, especially in Five Points, where blacks, whites, rich and poor seem to be able to hang out with one another pretty well. If there is a liberal place in Birmingham, this is it. But for me that feeling, even if it was foolish, is no more and it sucks.
I shouldn't be surprised, especially after what happened in Rome with Debbie and I recently. Up until the last day of our trip, I had given little thought to pickpockets, though I had been duly safe with my stuff. But as we sat on a crowded commuter metro train heading to see the Vatican, I felt something digging around in my backpack, and sure enough, some jerk was trying to steal my camera. I couln't exactly freak out on the guy, being surrounded by who knows how many of his colleagues, which made the situation even more frustrating and humiliating. But after that, I was ready to leave Rome. I wanted to go home. Well, today I wanted to go home and lock up all my stuff and put bars on the windows. In fact, right now I'm worried that someone might be breaking into my car.
I know it is foolish to ignore the reality of iniquity, but I really do hate being suspicious of people. Even more than I hate having to attack some bum trying to steal my bike. I hope I will always be able to cherish whatever innocence I have, even if that means I sometimes get burned. I'm lucky it didn't happen today.
