Urban Evening - Conclusion

It was a strange little standoff that was taking place. We had two ruffians that looked like they stepped out of some gang movie. They were being confronted by an almost classic “98 pound weakling” who was accusing of violence against an unseen (by us) friend back in the park. We also had a bleeding street urchin who claimed he was the second coming of our lord and savior… oh, and me. At that point, I was cursing whatever desire that caused me to want to take a late night stroll in the autumn air that point in this strange and rather frightening position.

I was attempting to assess everyone’s foot speed and was looking for an opportune break in the standoff that might yield an exit path for me when “Christ” spoke yet again.

“Come now son, you don’t want to hurt anyone…” he was addressing the large young black man who was brandishing the knife. He offered a hand towards the young man as the thug, at that moment, swiped at him with the knife. “Christ” was now bleeding from both palms openly. The street urchin who called himself “Jesus Christ” was beginning to resemble the crucified savior with the visible wounds he was now suffering.

At that point, the other skinny young white man who was making the accusations jumped the black guy from behind causing him to lose his hold on the knife. The Hispanic thug then moved to assist his comrade when I saw the police cruiser on the avenue swinging down in our direction. I yelled “The cops are coming!” and then to make sure that this statement was true I moved out into the street waving my arms frantically.

The Hispanic thug took off on a dead run back into the park. The Black man shrugged off his would-be assailant easily (as if throwing off an extra shirt because he was too warm) and began to move after him. “Christ” then shouted “Wait my sons, come back…you needn’t run…”

The police car pulled up to the curb and jumped out with quizzical looks on their faces but guns drawn. The skinny white kid was picking himself up off the sidewalk (again). He had suffered some bad scrapes on his arms and a torn knee but was still anxious to get the attention of the peace officers.

“Jesus Christ” was moving back into the park at a slow trot. He had to have lost a fair amount of blood but he seemingly has taken no notice of this. I was torn between wanting to get the police officers up to speed on the situation and needing to keep an eye on “Jesus” to make sure he got some medical attention. Since the skinny white guy was holding their attention and no doubt was telling them of impending evil in the park, I moved after our erstwhile savior.
I caught up to “Jesus” rather easily because within three strides of the entrance to the park he had tripped and was laying in the grass with his legs still attempting to run. He looked like a child’s wind up toy that had lost its balance and was flailing away on its side. As I looked at him in the dim light of the entranceway lamps that were a function of the two pillers that made up the archway into the park, I could see his feet were also bleeding… perhaps as a result of him losing his sandals somewhere in the struggle and perhaps he had stubbed them badly on one of the rocks that lined the walkway. As I knelt down to him he looked up to me and said “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?”

A chill ran through me. I recalled those words somewhere back in my latent Catholic upbringing.

I told him “Take it easy, I’m sure the police will catch up with them…. Just stay with me…”

To which he replied… “ Yes I am with you always, until the very end of time.”

Okay, now I’m getting even more weirded out. I looked at him in his dirty rags bleeding from his hands and feet, laying on the ground quoting scripture.

I cried out to no one in particular “Hey, I think we need some medical attention here…! Anyone around? Please call an ambulance!!”

The police had caught up with the large black kid and was leading back to where we were laying in the grass. The cop looked down at the two of us and said…”I got this one. Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?”

To which my fallen comrade replied “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”