Mistake,could have killed me last night

[markgw]

I was at a poolhall called Spectators in southern Louisville. I was playing a guy named Kevin. He plays pretty sporty. He got me stuck a few games and when I came back and got even he quit.

There was this young black guy that came into the poolhall and he told Kevin that his car broke down by the Pizza Hut and asked him if he could give him a ride. I'm assuming that Kevin knows this guy.

Kevin tells him no. He had gotten a ride there by someone else.

Thinking that this is a friend of Kevins I offer to give him a ride. He said his car is stalled right down by the Pizza Hut. It's about 3/4 of a mile down the rode.

Being kind of street smart I ask the guy a few questions after he got in the car. I asked him if he plays pool and he said No. This guy also goes about 240-250 and I go about 195. He's about 26-28 years old so I really don't like my odds in a fight. I'm 59. Pretty good shape but 59.

I already got a red flag up because he's not even a regular customer there.
I'm sure nobody there knew him.

As we're driving down to the Pizza Hut I'm trying to sum up the situation as far as what I'll do if this happens or that happens.

Right now we're on a pretty busy street. It's 2:00 AM. Hardly no cars at all. As we get down to the Pizza hut he says you need to take a left ,Old Time. Yes he called me Old Time.

On the way down to Pizza Hut he said he might just be out of gas. I told him let's just get some gas and bring it down. He declined.

I don't see a car and I ask him very boldly, Where is your car. He says down by the light.

So I drive down to the next street light and he repeats down by the light.

I go to the next street light and he points to the traffic light about 2 more blocks down. The traffic light he said.

It's like he is making this up as we go.


This whole situation just stinks.

Now we're at the light and he says to turn to the left and then he asks me if I could spare some money so he can get some gas.

Another lie.

I looked down the road and it led to a very residential area. If something happened down there no one would even know it.

There was a car on the right side of the road. I told him, this must be your car. He reluctantly said yes. Another lie.

I pulled over and pulled out 3 bucks I had in my left pocket and told him this is as far as I go.

There was a little pause. He was thinking about his next move.

In the drivers seat your kind of vulnerable because the passenger can just come accross with a great big right hand. I have my hand on the door handle. If I see that right hand come accross i'm out the door. I like my chances out there better.

Finally he opens the door and doesn't say a word and got out.

I think he knew it would be a battle. This old Time would have put up a pretty good fight. Not fun though for sure and probably would have been a losing situation if he had a knife or a gun.

But I assume if he had either of them he would have done more than get right out.

After he got out I thought to myself how stupid I was to assume that he was a regular there and that he knew Kevin.

As we were driving down the road thoughts about another AZer named Mike Surber popped into my head. He got murdered awhile back and they still havn't caught the killer. I thought to myself, this is how that could have all started also with just a ride.

I need to be more careful from now on and so do all the other AZers out there that read this.

I really feel lucky because i know for a fact that this guy was up to no good.

I think the only thing that saved me from trouble was it might have just seemed like a little more trouble than he wanted to deal with.

Today I am a lucky man for sure.

One man a van and the road...........

Hey Genomachino, thanks for sharing this story. It sounds like you went to school on this and learned a lesson and we can all get something from this. Hindsight is 20/20 so it looks pretty easy now that if you were feeling like being a good samaritan cab fare would have done the trick considering it was only 3/4 of a mile. You could have said.. here's a $20 bro go take a cab and get some gas or whatever. Maybe you can help somebody out one day. That would be much better than a possible life ending situation. Thank God everything turned out ok:smile:

 

[Sloppy Pockets]

Um, I did not bring race into it. Storyteller did. Why didn't he mention Kevin's race?

Who knows? Some might consider it to be racial profiling. That's a long way from bigotry, though. We all notice things like this and use them to enhance our self-protection instincts. That's different from a cop pulling a guy over and interrogating him based solely on the color of his skin.

Once a real good friend of mine was telling me a story and he said something along the lines of "... so then, this black dude". I asked him why he said it that way, and he gave me a pretty funny look and said he was just describing the guy, and would have said "this white dude" if the guy happened to be white. I said I wouldn't bring up the guy's race.

I thought about it and then I realized that my friend was guilty of his own brand of racial profiling, which struck he as odd since the guy is black himself. I think these differences may be even more important for ethnic minorities than they are for whites.

Anyway, I'm glad Geno's OK. I would never fall into that trap because I have real good instincts and always listen to my gut first. Sometimes, though, you find yourself in a situation that your instincts tell you to avoid, but you're already there, and how you got there was beyond your fault. I have a little tale of my own to tell that is like that, but I'm right in the middle of a project and am only taking a short break. Maybe later if this thread is still going. It will, unfortunately, have to make mention of the ethnicity of those involved to get the full effect of what I experienced, so don't slam me if I do, OK Chris?:wink:

 

[Island Drive]

Being 6'6'' I'm sure there was a few times they decided to not pick on me for Large reasons. But I've found out in life if someone who doesn't know you, all of a sudden wants to approach you, its almost always something you want NO part of.

 

[jay helfert]

Back then, yes it did matter, it was reality, why hide or embellish it, it was reality smak dab in your face after the Eisenhower yrs.

Well forty plus yrs ago 1968 approx maybe 69, I obviously got off on the wrong foot by trying to hustle pool at night in E. St. Louis in the late sixties as a young man. Since ange was 'from' the s. side of chicago, he had a good understanding of street life and this room and outside were well lit. I grew up in the middle class western suburbs of Chicago, and we had only two colored families in our whole town of 15,000 and they were great. In the trenches of society back then during Martin Luther King days there were NO gang bangers or drivebys or nighly drug turf battles like Now. I don't think we would of been shot, but def robbed in E. St. L.

Times were waaaaaaaaaay different back then during the Vietnam yrs and Kent State shootings. My next venture like I said was in Los Angeles when I moved there 76-81. By 79 I was running out of ''player'' action and heard about this kinda 'safe' room in the La area but I would Not go there at night. I'm sure Jay H. would remember the room name. Back then, blacks and whites didn't mix allot because of the prejudices many parents passed on to their children.
In La, this period was around the Watts riots time frame. My future wife had finally gotten her OT degree and was working at the Martin Luther King hospital ''in the watts district.'' This was the time period when if you were at a traffic light stopped, someone would pop out of no where, walk up to your window and rob ya at gun point in the middle of the day because you were unable to move your car. Those times were different, very real.

No this post has NOTHING to do about the race card, or if I like or don't like black people, or ya de ya dee. It was the way it was. I would of felt safer walking in e. st louis back then at night than I do now in SE Colorado Springs. Hows that for a change. When I moved to the springs in 71 there was NO such animal as a gang.

Your talking about Tournament Billiards in Culver City. All the top black players would hang out in there and they had the tournament room in the back where most of the action took place. Robert "Rags" Woods was the house pro and he kept things cool for the most part. A lot of good players of all colors and races came in there to play, me included. I made a lot of good friends in there who I still know to this day. Most of them came to visit me in my last room that I had in Inglewood.

I never had any problems in there personally, but Rags always looked out for me. There were a few "incidents" outside, like a shooting or two, but nothing out of the ordinary for South L.A. in those days. Usually when something went down, someone would come running in with a "news" report, "So and so just got shot!" One of the regulars that I used to gamble with (Peanut) got killed by his road partner over money all those years ago. We all knew who did it but no one ever said a word. And that's how life is in the hood.

 

[Island Drive]

Your talking about Tournament Billiards in Culver City. All the top black players would hang out in there and they had the tournament room in the back where most of the action took place. Robert "Rags" Woods was the house pro and he kept things cool for the most part. A lot of good players of all colors and races came in there to play, me included. I made a lot of good friends in there who I still know to this day. Most of them came to visit me in my last room that I had in Inglewood.

I never had any problems in there personally, but Rags always looked out for me. There were a few "incidents" outside, like a shooting or two, but nothing out of the ordinary for South L.A. in those days. Usually when something went down, someone would come running in with a "news" report, "So and so just got shot!" One of the regulars that I used to gamble with (Peanut) got killed by his road partner over money all those years ago. We all knew who did it but no one ever said a word. And that's how life is in the hood.

I think the day I was there, and thx for the name of the room. James Brown comes to mind. Good player, but not real friendly person for the most part was my first encounter with em in that rm, but I didn't no em at all, just seen em around, definitely NOT a shortstop.

 

[ShootingArts]

you can't win

Who knows? Some might consider it to be racial profiling. That's a long way from bigotry, though. We all notice things like this and use them to enhance our self-protection instincts. That's different from a cop pulling a guy over and interrogating him based solely on the color of his skin.

Once a real good friend of mine was telling me a story and he said something along the lines of "... so then, this black dude". I asked him why he said it that way, and he gave me a pretty funny look and said he was just describing the guy, and would have said "this white dude" if the guy happened to be white. I said I wouldn't bring up the guy's race.

I thought about it and then I realized that my friend was guilty of his own brand of racial profiling, which struck he as odd since the guy is black himself. I think these differences may be even more important for ethnic minorities than they are for whites.

Anyway, I'm glad Geno's OK. I would never fall into that trap because I have real good instincts and always listen to my gut first. Sometimes, though, you find yourself in a situation that your instincts tell you to avoid, but you're already there, and how you got there was beyond your fault. I have a little tale of my own to tell that is like that, but I'm right in the middle of a project and am only taking a short break. Maybe later if this thread is still going. It will, unfortunately, have to make mention of the ethnicity of those involved to get the full effect of what I experienced, so don't slam me if I do, OK Chris?:wink:

You can't win. It is a form of racism to ignore a person's distinguishing color too. Years ago I was watching a boxing match, probably early seventies. One boxer white as snow, one very dark black. Somehow they had let them wear nearly identical black trunks and the men in the booth were having hell describing the action and complaining there was no way to tell which boxer was which! More accurately there was no way to tell the audience which was which in those racially charged times.

I mentioned the old gentleman's race in my story because I feel quite sure that my race added to his fear when he stopped in an area miles from the nearest home or business. When race is pertinent I feel it is equally racist to ignore it as it is to judge someone by their race. My sister-in-law is a member of a minority. She spend several weeks putting together a package for a minority program at the university. Only after she had wasted sixty or eighty hours of effort did someone finally shamefacedly admit to her that only one minority qualified for that minority program and it wasn't Asians.

Life would sure be a hell of a lot simpler for all of us if we truly accepted different but equal.

Hu

 

[StuartTKelley]

Gotta be careful with that.

I was driving in rural Quebec once at 5:00am and had a guy run down the side of the swale yelling and waving at me. Like you, I didn't stop. Looked like a nutter to me

There was a huge stone cliff on the right-hand side of the road and just as I got to the end of it... there was yet another crazy looking guy waving and yelling at me. This one had a sign saying "STOP".

Suddenly there was a huge boom... and a massive piece of the cliff came down into the road where I'd been driving. They were blasting the rock to prevent any further rock slides. It seems they weren't expecting anybody on that road at 5:00 in the morning and they were quite glad I made it through.

So was I.

Wow, yeah you dodged a bullet...or more I'd say I am glad about that. To be fair, this guy didn't exactly look official and was quite similar in appearance to many of the other unsavory folks that hang out in and around the area where I was. So, unless he was undercover, I'm assuming I was correct in not stopping. But, I appreciate you sharing your story.

 

[jay helfert]

You can't win. It is a form of racism to ignore a person's distinguishing color too. Years ago I was watching a boxing match, probably early seventies. One boxer white as snow, one very dark black. Somehow they had let them wear nearly identical black trunks and the men in the booth were having hell describing the action and complaining there was no way to tell which boxer was which! More accurately there was no way to tell the audience which was which in those racially charged times.

I mentioned the old gentleman's race in my story because I feel quite sure that my race added to his fear when he stopped in an area miles from the nearest home or business. When race is pertinent I feel it is equally racist to ignore it as it is to judge someone by their race. My sister-in-law is a member of a minority. She spend several weeks putting together a package for a minority program at the university. Only after she had wasted sixty or eighty hours of effort did someone finally shamefacedly admit to her that only one minority qualified for that minority program and it wasn't Asians.

Life would sure be a hell of a lot simpler for all of us if we truly accepted different but equal.

Hu

Some day thousands of years in the future, when we can travel easily from solar system to solar system and have encountered a myriad of alien life forms in the universe, just seeing another human being will be like seeing a brother. We are all brethren on this planet whether we like it or not. And I strongly suspect we may be the only life form exactly like ours in the entire universe. And I also strongly suspect there are MANY other life forms inhabiting this universe, that we haven't encountered as yet. And maybe that's a good thing. That might not all like us either!

 

[jackthehat]

You can't win. It is a form of racism to ignore a person's distinguishing color too. Years ago I was watching a boxing match, probably early seventies. One boxer white as snow, one very dark black. Somehow they had let them wear nearly identical black trunks and the men in the booth were having hell describing the action and complaining there was no way to tell which boxer was which! More accurately there was no way to tell the audience which was which in those racially charged times.

I mentioned the old gentleman's race in my story because I feel quite sure that my race added to his fear when he stopped in an area miles from the nearest home or business. When race is pertinent I feel it is equally racist to ignore it as it is to judge someone by their race. My sister-in-law is a member of a minority. She spend several weeks putting together a package for a minority program at the university. Only after she had wasted sixty or eighty hours of effort did someone finally shamefacedly admit to her that only one minority qualified for that minority program and it wasn't Asians.

Life would sure be a hell of a lot simpler for all of us if we truly accepted different but equal.

Hu

I have spent most of my life playing in Australia, the Far East and Europe where we don't have the same types of race and gun issues. I have spent the last hour reading this thread and it has been a real eye opener. Words cannot express the range of emotions such as excitement, disappointment and exasperation that I have felt. I thank myself very lucky that I was able to play for 1 year in California and never experienced the stories that I have read so far. Something has got to give guys......a change has got to come..

 

[fast&loose designs]

You can't win. It is a form of racism to ignore a person's distinguishing color too. Years ago I was watching a boxing match, probably early seventies. One boxer white as snow, one very dark black. Somehow they had let them wear nearly identical black trunks and the men in the booth were having hell describing the action and complaining there was no way to tell which boxer was which! More accurately there was no way to tell the audience which was which in those racially charged times.

I mentioned the old gentleman's race in my story because I feel quite sure that my race added to his fear when he stopped in an area miles from the nearest home or business. When race is pertinent I feel it is equally racist to ignore it as it is to judge someone by their race. My sister-in-law is a member of a minority. She spend several weeks putting together a package for a minority program at the university. Only after she had wasted sixty or eighty hours of effort did someone finally shamefacedly admit to her that only one minority qualified for that minority program and it wasn't Asians.

Life would sure be a hell of a lot simpler for all of us if we truly accepted different but equal.

Hu

I don't think you are a bigot for what you said, just pointing out that despite your intentions, it is offensive. Ask yourself this: If you were telling thos story to a room full of black men, would you have mentioned his race? Honestly? And nowhere in the story did you mention your race. So don't assume that we all know, and that we would feel empathy for the crook and think "Ob my god he must have been so scared of the white man!"

 

[8pack]

I was at a poolhall called Spectators in southern Louisville. I was playing a guy named Kevin. He plays pretty sporty. He got me stuck a few games and when I came back and got even he quit.

There was this young black guy that came into the poolhall and he told Kevin that his car broke down by the Pizza Hut and asked him if he could give him a ride. I'm assuming that Kevin knows this guy.

Kevin tells him no. He had gotten a ride there by someone else.

Thinking that this is a friend of Kevins I offer to give him a ride. He said his car is stalled right down by the Pizza Hut. It's about 3/4 of a mile down the rode.

Being kind of street smart I ask the guy a few questions after he got in the car. I asked him if he plays pool and he said No. This guy also goes about 240-250 and I go about 195. He's about 26-28 years old so I really don't like my odds in a fight. I'm 59. Pretty good shape but 59.

I already got a red flag up because he's not even a regular customer there.
I'm sure nobody there knew him.

As we're driving down to the Pizza Hut I'm trying to sum up the situation as far as what I'll do if this happens or that happens.

Right now we're on a pretty busy street. It's 2:00 AM. Hardly no cars at all. As we get down to the Pizza hut he says you need to take a left ,Old Time. Yes he called me Old Time.

On the way down to Pizza Hut he said he might just be out of gas. I told him let's just get some gas and bring it down. He declined.

I don't see a car and I ask him very boldly, Where is your car. He says down by the light.

So I drive down to the next street light and he repeats down by the light.

I go to the next street light and he points to the traffic light about 2 more blocks down. The traffic light he said.

It's like he is making this up as we go.


This whole situation just stinks.

Now we're at the light and he says to turn to the left and then he asks me if I could spare some money so he can get some gas.

Another lie.

I looked down the road and it led to a very residential area. If something happened down there no one would even know it.

There was a car on the right side of the road. I told him, this must be your car. He reluctantly said yes. Another lie.

I pulled over and pulled out 3 bucks I had in my left pocket and told him this is as far as I go.

There was a little pause. He was thinking about his next move.

In the drivers seat your kind of vulnerable because the passenger can just come accross with a great big right hand. I have my hand on the door handle. If I see that right hand come accross i'm out the door. I like my chances out there better.

Finally he opens the door and doesn't say a word and got out.

I think he knew it would be a battle. This old Time would have put up a pretty good fight. Not fun though for sure and probably would have been a losing situation if he had a knife or a gun.

But I assume if he had either of them he would have done more than get right out.

After he got out I thought to myself how stupid I was to assume that he was a regular there and that he knew Kevin.

As we were driving down the road thoughts about another AZer named Mike Surber popped into my head. He got murdered awhile back and they still havn't caught the killer. I thought to myself, this is how that could have all started also with just a ride.

I need to be more careful from now on and so do all the other AZers out there that read this.

I really feel lucky because i know for a fact that this guy was up to no good.

I think the only thing that saved me from trouble was it might have just seemed like a little more trouble than he wanted to deal with.

Today I am a lucky man for sure.

One man a van and the road...........

I got nervous just reading this,Thank God your alright.
You know I know this will never happen to you again but it mite not be a bad Ideal to get yourself some kinda protection.

Anthony

 

[DallasHopps]

I got nervous just reading this,Thank God your alright.
You know I know this will never happen to you again but it mite not be a bad Ideal to get yourself some kinda protection.

Anthony

What good are condoms in this situation!?!

 

[genomachino]

This really got off track but........

I married a woman from South America in about 2002.

She brought her son Roney and Sady with her. I was dad to those 2 boys for about 6 years full time. Now I'm still like dad even though I divorced from their mother. The only difference is they call me Gene and not Dad. I still get along great with their mother and have allot of respect for her. She a great person and the boys are very lucky she is their mother.

Sady was 5 and Roney was 9 when they got here.

Xoimara is a black woman and is very smart and beautiful. Roney is black and Sady is white.

During these 6 years we had allot of comical situations and we usually had fun with it. But I really got a racial education in a quick hurry.

Roney now plays football for the Cincy Bearcats and has 2 years of college under his belt. He's 6'2" 270 and I am so proud of him. We did everything together. Football, baseball, basketball and even some pool.

Sady was my little buddy but is not so small now. He's already as tall as Roney and he's only 15. Wears size 13 shoes already. In about 3 years he'll be ready for college. He will be in sports. Pretty talented kid. He loves soccer. Are there any 6'9" soccer players out there? His biological dad is 6'9" if I remember right.

I can see where some people might be offended the way I told the story but if I was telling it to my own kids I would tell it the same way. They would have thought nothing of me saying the guy was black and neither would I.

I remember one time I took Roney with me selling cable TV. I was going door to door. He wanted to see what I did when I was out selling cable with my job.
We went to a house and the first thing I do is check to see if the cable is still hooked up and it was. Now I need to talk to the people and see if they want to keep the cable or shut it off.
I knew someone was there. I just wanted to get them set up with their own account before Comcast would shut it off on Monday.

We went around to the back to knock on the back door and noone answered again. As I was back there Roney was looking at a spider on the glass door. We couldn't see in because the light outside just made everything invisable to see inside. As the spider ran around the top of the door Roney pointed at it. They might have thought we were trying to figure out how to get in. it was a pretty big spider.

They called the police and they came out. I was at a different house with Roney when the police came. Roney was only 12 years old but was already a big boy. I showed the officer my Comcast badge and explained to the him that the cable was accidently left on at that house and I just wanted to see if the people wanted to keep it before it got shut off Monday. otherwise they would have to pay a hookup fee and wait about 3 days to get it turned back on.

I went back to the house with the police and set the people up with their own cable account and everything was fine.

They were scared because Roney was just staring at the spider and they thought he was just staring at them. He couldn't see them because of the light. The guy said it looked like he was trying to figure out how to get in looking at the top and side of the sliding doors in the back.

We both thought this was kind of funny and the thought never crossed either of our minds that it was caused because Roney was big and black but who knows, maybe it was.

But bottom line is I'm pretty color blind when it comes to race. I really understand first hand many of the problems but i don't pay much attention to it.

I just wish everyone could forget about this stuff and just live life and get along.

Life is pretty good. Have a good day everyone.........

 

[Lock N Load]

I married a woman from South America in about 2002.

She brought her son Roney and Sady with her. I was dad to those 2 boys for about 6 years full time. Now I'm still like dad even though I divorced from their mother. The only difference is they call me Gene and not Dad. I still get along great with their mother and have allot of respect for her. She a great person and the boys are very lucky she is their mother.

Sady was 5 and Roney was 9 when they got here.

Xoimara is a black woman and is very smart and beautiful. Roney is black and Sady is white.

During these 6 years we had allot of comical situations and we usually had fun with it. But I really got a racial education in a quick hurry.

Roney now plays football for the Cincy Bearcats and has 2 years of college under his belt. He's 6'2" 270 and I am so proud of him. We did everything together. Football, baseball, basketball and even some pool.

Sady was my little buddy but is not so small now. He's already as tall as Roney and he's only 15. Wears size 13 shoes already. In about 3 years he'll be ready for college. He will be in sports. Pretty talented kid. He loves soccer. Are there any 6'9" soccer players out there? His biological dad is 6'9" if I remember right.

I can see where some people might be offended the way I told the story but if I was telling it to my own kids I would tell it the same way. They would have thought nothing of me saying the guy was black and neither would I.

I remember one time I took Roney with me selling cable TV. I was going door to door. He wanted to see what I did when I was out selling cable with my job.
We went to a house and the first thing I do is check to see if the cable is still hooked up and it was. Now I need to talk to the people and see if they want to keep the cable or shut it off.
I knew someone was there. I just wanted to get them set up with their own account before Comcast would shut it off on Monday.

We went around to the back to knock on the back door and noone answered again. As I was back there Roney was looking at a spider on the glass door. We couldn't see in because the light outside just made everything invisable to see inside. As the spider ran around the top of the door Roney pointed at it. They might have thought we were trying to figure out how to get in. it was a pretty big spider.

They called the police and they came out. I was at a different house with Roney when the police came. Roney was only 12 years old but was already a big boy. I showed the officer my Comcast badge and explained to the him that the cable was accidently left on at that house and I just wanted to see if the people wanted to keep it before it got shut off Monday. otherwise they would have to pay a hookup fee and wait about 3 days to get it turned back on.

I went back to the house with the police and set the people up with their own cable account and everything was fine.

They were scared because Roney was just staring at the spider and they thought he was just staring at them. He couldn't see them because of the light. The guy said it looked like he was trying to figure out how to get in looking at the top and side of the sliding doors in the back.

We both thought this was kind of funny and the thought never crossed either of our minds that it was caused because Roney was big and black but who knows, maybe it was.

But bottom line is I'm pretty color blind when it comes to race. I really understand first hand many of the problems but i don't pay much attention to it.

I just wish everyone could forget about this stuff and just live life and get along.

Life is pretty good. Have a good day everyone.........

Geno,
What happen to one man, one van, and the road? I miss that when I do not see it! Keep on hanging, Gene.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[ShootingArts]

absolutely!

I don't think you are a bigot for what you said, just pointing out that despite your intentions, it is offensive. Ask yourself this: If you were telling thos story to a room full of black men, would you have mentioned his race? Honestly? And nowhere in the story did you mention your race. So don't assume that we all know, and that we would feel empathy for the crook and think "Ob my god he must have been so scared of the white man!"

Chris,

With so many posters and posts it is easy to confuse who is who and who posted what. My first post is #53. I twice mention that we were of different races and I also say that I looked much like my picture in the avatar taken from my old horse owners license, an image some have mistaken for charles manson.

I absolutely have always stated that the gentleman that stopped was black and I have told my story to quite a few people, some black, some not. With his years and the area it was just a given that he had been given a rough time at times in his life by people that looked much like me. His race wasn't an issue for me, it very much appeared that my race and appearance were issues for him that he rose above. The fear in his eyes and manner was unmistakeable. I can't imagine why he stopped. Some Grace outweighed his fear. I do consider it little if anything short of a miracle.

Hu

 

[Tobermory]

Hey, guys! It is no longer 1952!

 

[Sloppy Pockets]

OK. Long story, but I gotta tell it. It's even (remotely) pool related.


About 25 years ago I used to do a lot of business in NYC. I was into musical instrument repair, finding quality old guitars and violins and such, restoring them, and bringing them to either NY or Boston to unload. I also took on consignment some really expensive antique instruments that were beyond my means to buy outright. Four or five times a year I would drive down with a car full of stuff and sweep through about a dozen dealers, seeing if I could interest them in what I had.

One time I got a sitter for the kids and asked my wife to come along to help out. She would drop me off at one dealer and make her way to the next one and wait for me there. Saved having to find a parking spot for each stop.

I had a friend down there who was a bow maker like myself. He lived way up above Washington Heights, past the worst part of Harlem. We came over the GW bridge and my wife dropped me off at his place for a visit. When I was leaving he told me how to take the right trains to get to mid-town shops I was going to. Somehow, I got off at the wrong stop and headed on foot in the wrong direction.

Very quickly, I started to pick up on a very bad vibe. There were people shouting and running. Somebody was being chased, it seemed like. I thought I heard a gunshot, but I wasn't certain. As I continued walking things started to feel downright ominous, I can't really explain why, but I just knew I had stumbled into a very bad neighborhood.

All of a sudden there was a very crazy looking white guy coming right across the street at me. He was maybe in his 30's but looked about 60 he was so beat, and filthy and strung out as all get out.

"Hey, man, whatcha got in that case?" The case he was referring to was a long thin case to transport violin bows in. Tucked inside were two of my own cello bows that were worth about $2500 apiece retail... and two antique French violin bows worth about $15K each. They did not belong to me. Plus, I had several thousand dollars in cash on me in case I saw something I thought I could flip while I was down there.

He started grabbing at the case, saying, "What you got in there? A pool cue? I'll buy it from you. How much you want for it?"

"No, it ain't a pool cue, and I don't want to sell it. Now I want to go."

"What you mean? That's a pool cue case. I want to see it and buy it from you."

"No, man, you're wrong. Now back off, please."

No, he starts pulling at the case, real hard. I'm thinking if I lose this case, my career is done. I could make more of my own bows, but I'd never be able to pay off 30 grand worth of merchandise. I'd be ruined.

During that time period, I was real big into martial arts. Not for self defense, but for health and spiritual reasons. I spent a lot of time studying with a guy who learned Kali (stick and knife fighting) in the Philippines. He once told me that almost anything could be a stick in a pinch. And suddenly, there it was in my hands: a $35,000 "stick". Hopefully, the sturdy case would protect the goods inside if I had to use it.

I ripped the case from his hands, took a step back and started to do my best Steven Seagal imitation right there in the middle of the street, swinging that case in big circles and telling the guy to come and get it! He backed off instantly, and I came at him until he ran across the street, yelling obscenities at me the whole time.

Now here's where it gets good...

I turn back and start walking up the street, looking back over my shoulder every few seconds. That's when I noticed the dozen or so Hispanic dudes sitting on and around someone's stoop. As I got closer I could see that they were all wearing colors. I don't know what gangs wear what colors, but they were probably Latin Kings. And they had just watched the whole thing and probably had figured out there was something worth fighting for in that case I was carrying.

What do I do now? Do I cross the street and show my fear? Do I turn around and run? Funny thing was, I wasn't a bit scared, just pumped with adrenaline and feeling hyper-aware. I figured that I had no choice at that point but to walk right past them. No eye contact, don't be a hero, just walk past with confidence and see what happens. One thing was for sure, if these guys went for the case, well, they were gonna have it. Best I could hope for was that they wouldn't beat the crap out of me or cut me up because it wasn't a pool cue.

They were very scary looking individuals, prison tatts, braided hair, and just had that killer attitude about them. As I approached them I just gave them a polite nod of the head, as if to say, "I respect you, just passing through your turf if you don't mind."

And they let me pass.

Finally, I saw a pay phone and went to it and called the shop where my wife was waiting for me. The owner asked where I was and then proceeded to give me some very specific directions to follow to get to his shop. Some 20 minutes later I walked into the shop and my wife ran up and gave me a big hug.

"Oh my God, I was so worried about you."

"Why?", I asked her (she had no idea about what had just almost happened).

"After you got off the phone, the owner turned around and said to me, 'Your husband just called me from the corner of the highest drug-related murder spot in NY. I just hope he can follow my directions and gets here alive' ".

 

[Island Drive]

I married a woman from South America in about 2002.

She brought her son Roney and Sady with her. I was dad to those 2 boys for about 6 years full time. Now I'm still like dad even though I divorced from their mother. The only difference is they call me Gene and not Dad. I still get along great with their mother and have allot of respect for her. She a great person and the boys are very lucky she is their mother.

Sady was 5 and Roney was 9 when they got here.

Xoimara is a black woman and is very smart and beautiful. Roney is black and Sady is white.

During these 6 years we had allot of comical situations and we usually had fun with it. But I really got a racial education in a quick hurry.

Roney now plays football for the Cincy Bearcats and has 2 years of college under his belt. He's 6'2" 270 and I am so proud of him. We did everything together. Football, baseball, basketball and even some pool.

Sady was my little buddy but is not so small now. He's already as tall as Roney and he's only 15. Wears size 13 shoes already. In about 3 years he'll be ready for college. He will be in sports. Pretty talented kid. He loves soccer. Are there any 6'9" soccer players out there? His biological dad is 6'9" if I remember right.

I can see where some people might be offended the way I told the story but if I was telling it to my own kids I would tell it the same way. They would have thought nothing of me saying the guy was black and neither would I.

I remember one time I took Roney with me selling cable TV. I was going door to door. He wanted to see what I did when I was out selling cable with my job.
We went to a house and the first thing I do is check to see if the cable is still hooked up and it was. Now I need to talk to the people and see if they want to keep the cable or shut it off.
I knew someone was there. I just wanted to get them set up with their own account before Comcast would shut it off on Monday.

We went around to the back to knock on the back door and noone answered again. As I was back there Roney was looking at a spider on the glass door. We couldn't see in because the light outside just made everything invisable to see inside. As the spider ran around the top of the door Roney pointed at it. They might have thought we were trying to figure out how to get in. it was a pretty big spider.

They called the police and they came out. I was at a different house with Roney when the police came. Roney was only 12 years old but was already a big boy. I showed the officer my Comcast badge and explained to the him that the cable was accidently left on at that house and I just wanted to see if the people wanted to keep it before it got shut off Monday. otherwise they would have to pay a hookup fee and wait about 3 days to get it turned back on.

I went back to the house with the police and set the people up with their own cable account and everything was fine.

They were scared because Roney was just staring at the spider and they thought he was just staring at them. He couldn't see them because of the light. The guy said it looked like he was trying to figure out how to get in looking at the top and side of the sliding doors in the back.

We both thought this was kind of funny and the thought never crossed either of our minds that it was caused because Roney was big and black but who knows, maybe it was.

But bottom line is I'm pretty color blind when it comes to race. I really understand first hand many of the problems but i don't pay much attention to it.

I just wish everyone could forget about this stuff and just live life and get along.

Life is pretty good. Have a good day everyone.........

Good story, kids put a nice fresh perspective into every day/minute/hour. Yeah prejudice is learned early on and your totally unaware your being brainwashed as a youngster. As a child I only knew there were whites and blacks. I never knew what jewish meant, same goes for polish, irish, german, french and all the rest. My whole life I still don't care or think about it, BUT I find society keep bringing up Crap about this that I could care less about but it creeps into your thoughts and can skew your thinking. But a few yrs back when I was considering helping open up with investors, a muliti million dollar pool room out in the western suburbs of chicago. I found out who the investors were, and I walked immediately. I was told long that people from this country are wonderful people, BUT....they take pride in lying and never getting caught as their normal way of life, but if you got caught lying that was totally unacceptable. To me it sounded like they would lie all the time till a situation came up where they were not able to tell a lie and then told the truth, and it was culturally acceptable. That's wierd, I rather hang around a group of gypsies than them. :wink:
This gal I knew told me that's the way her mom was taught and was acceptable in their culture. Most cultures around the world were Borne long ago and have habits that were formed thousands of yrs ago, us, meaning US, we just got it going here a hundred yrs ago or so. We're the juveniles of the world in soooooooo many ways, and our actions show that. Thank god for the kids.

 

[tbos33]

Not many black people come to pool halls where I live.

 

[Baxter]

You need one of these on the road Gene..

Don't bring it to CA. Not legal here.