Thursday, October 02, 2008

Yesterday

I was walking to class after work with Julia and we passed a taxi driver struggling to change a flat tire. I wondered aloud if I should see if he needed help, briefly acknowledged the fact that no one in this city would stop to help me (unless my boobs were falling out of my shirt or something,) and then continued with our previous conversation. Julia instead asked, "well, are you going to ask him?" So I did. He was trying to loosen the last nut on the flat before raising the car up. He already had the jack in the right place and the spare out and ready, but couldn't turn that last lug nut. When I asked if he needed help, he replied "You think you're stronger than me?" Which sounds a bit testy now that I think about it, but I replied honestly, "No, but maybe we could both get it." He had one of those cross bar things with different sized sockets at each end. He pushed down his end and I pulled up on the other, and it loosened up immediately. I don't know if he had doubted me or something, but as soon as it loosened he gave me a hug and asked where I was headed. I was only a block away from class and being that it would take him another 10 minutes to get the spare on, I told him not to worry about it.

That night after class when i was walking to the bus stop, I passed a guy crawling on the sidewalk on all fours, looking around at everyone. He didn't look like a bum, but he could have been I suppose. Either way, right before i passed him, he flopped down on the ground and stopped moving, like he was playing dead. I paid him no attention, but looked over my shoulder a few times to see if anyone else did. I'm sure everyone around me had seen the same thing and knew he wasn't actually sick or injured, but even those that may not have known didn't stop to help. I doubt anyone did. Isn't that disappointing?

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