Attempt to Catch Up #1

So it’s been days that I’ve wanted to write but I haven’t had the time to make the appropriate updates. So here goes my attempt at playing catch up and it will probably be the first of many.

So last weekend, after 28 days straight of 8-12 hour shifts, I finally had 2 days off (and most of a Friday). Friday was Jake’s night. (For those of you who know him, my condolences; for those who don’t, you don’t know how lucky you are.) We started by going to our old stomping grounds (or were they moshing grounds?), the train tracks behind my old apartment. It’s one of my favorite places in the world simply for the view of Winston-Salem and the peace of mind I’ve always found there. From there we walked (yes, that’s right, we walked, many miles all told) up to the now sadly mostly dead Burke Street where so many of my (mis)adventures in life took place, lamented how on a Friday night at 10:30 it was more dead than it used to be on Thursdays at 3am. But some old dudes were throwing down on some Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Burke Street Pub, so at least that much is good and made me feel at home.

From there we hit 4th street and walked to Jake’s old place of employment. And here’s the sort of weird reasons that I hang out with Jake. We walk in a back way, down an elevator. Mind you, Jake is carrying a 40 (Miller High Life) and we are dressed like bums walking into a ritzy hotel through a back entrance. The elevator door opens up on this Hispanic gentleman vacuuming the floor. Jake asks him if Juan (Jake’s old boss) is working. This guy doesn’t speak much English and replies with "the black people?" and Jake, already tipsy replies enthusiastically, "yeah, the black people!" So this Hispanic guy is leading us around until we accidentally stumble across a guy who is one of the chief security guards there. Jake asks him, 40 still in hand, if he knows if Juan is working tonight. He’s like, "Yeah, follow me" and only makes a passing comment about us being in the building. Other than that, Jake is shooting the bull with this guy like they’re old friends from back in the day. I tell you the guy could talk the Devil into repenting and the pope into taking his place.

The security guy takes us to Juan who’s happy as a pig in shit to be seeing Jake, 40 and all, walking in. They talk a good 10 minutes about old times and who’s gone and who’s still there, about Jake getting his job back which Juan is more than open too, and Juan adds jake to his Facebook friends.

After that we end up on the corner of 7th street and Marshall. A very high class lady is looking for her black leather purse with her "grocery money" that she idiotically left in her car which now has a smashed window and one less purse. Granted, this chick probably didn’t know jack shit about the neighborhood she was in and while parts of 7th are nice thanks to W-S’s "Downtown Revitalization Project" (read attempts to get rid of the druggies and hobos from downtown), she’s on the corner of some very bad juju areas, and regardless of where the hell you are, who leaves their purse full of cash in the car while they eat at a fancy restaurant? 1, duh and 2, don’t you think you might need your cash or id or credit card or any other number of things that were still in this woman’s purse? Anyway, being the constant gentleman I am, dressed like it or not, I start helping this lady look for her purse, which there’s an okay chance of finding even if it would be by that point cashless. So we’re looking all over creation for it and I get to looking at this dumpster area. 8 foot tall brick walls on 3 sides, the forth is a faux-wrought-iron gate, solid at the bottom and vertical bars at the top and think to myself with my criminal mind "you smash the window, grab the purse, grab the cash and maybe cards out and chuck the purse and leave before someone notices. Dumpster here isn’t far from the car but in a pinch it would do and no one would really be able to get in to see if there’s a purse there." So I start by holding this little maglite I’m carrying (yes I carry a flashlight as well as a pocket knife on my little adventures) in my teeth while pulling myself up on these bars. I can’t really see a thing obviously (damn my half-brother stealing all the tall genes in my family) so I start looking at the wall of the parking deck that’s behind this dumpster. There’s about 1 to 1 1/2 feet between the wall of the parking deck and the back wall of the dumpster. So I decided to play ninja and prop myself between the two and start inching my way up the wall. Jake’s between laughing at me and asking if I need help and I’m in ninja mode so I’m like, "nah. I got this." So I inch my way up to the top, throw an arm over the dumpster wall and do some weird little kick off, twist maneuver that I can’t really describe to grab it with my other arm and pull myself up. The lady is freaking out and in this snooty and timid voice is all, "oh please. Such a fuss isn’t worth it. Do be careful." I’m thinking "Jesus lady, what country are you a duchess in?" but I just say something about I’ll be alright and kept on. Of course, Jake being the tall punk he is just goes to the lowest point of the wall and jumps up, grabs the edge and pulls himself up. Bastard.

Anyway, despite our best efforts, we unfortunately never did find the duchess’ purse, but it was hell of fun to be on an adventure of sorts again. And I noticed the cop that was taking her case report is looking at me on top of this wall while he stands there with his thumb up his ass with this look of "better you than me". Whatever happened to the service part of "To Serve and Protect"? Shouldn’t that asshole be looking for her purse? But I digress as everyone and their dog knows my feelings on Winston’s finest.

Okay, so this went from part 1 to being part 1a as it’s now been an hour and a half and I haven’t even started working yet. So I’m out. I’ll pick up part 1b as soon as I can.

Peace all,
CCG