Just so you know, I had put over an hour into this post before my computer decided that it had enough of my drivel and spontaneously shut down. It was disheartening. I will now save often.
The cops went into the diner and I had half an instinct to follow them in. I wanted to ask them if they knew they scared us. I wanted to ask them if they knew of us. I wanted to buy them lunch. I wanted to ask them what they thought of us. But we decided to “Let the cops go.” That’s a switch, huh?
We continued to travel along previously uncharted areas. Actually, it was a different end of Washington Blvd. that we just hadn’t been before. Sometimes we took breaks.
Everyone was doing their part. I tend to take the lead and keep up the pace, since I walk fast. Often, Misery White is side-to-side. We’re also there for public relations and diplomacy. She’s also so quick to spot nuances on the street. People in a situation or someone to immediately help. At the rear, we keep our brute force and tactics. Razorhawk and Blue. Typically, we’ll have Arctic Knight somewhere in the middle, ready to go with his Mad Martial Arts Skillz as he sees fit, but he couldn’t make it for this mission. I don’t think we gave him enough heads-up about it. Communication isn’t one of our strong-points and Minnesota is a bigger state than you might realize. Both metro and urban distance.
So we’re walking down Washington Blvd,, and being waved at, honked at, stared at and also being asked the cool standard questions by people. Everyone is responding so positively to just us being there. But it’s the frequency of it that has me realizing that walking down a street in daylight is so much different than walking down the same street at night. We also ended up waving at at least two sets of police officer who were making arrests. They waved back.
We met a lot of people. Some curious and others in need. If they were in need, Blue was at the ready with food and water for them. He carried the supplies and was always at the ready with them for anyone in need.
Razorhawk was always kind to the street-folk with a listening ear. I don’t think they could believe that this “Big-tough-wrestler-guy” would take the time to listen to their troubles. He has that kind of heart. That’s part of what makes him so invaluable on the streets.
We met a lot of people, had some photos taken, with our permission. It became night.
And just when Blue was asking if we needed to buy more supplies, we found a middle-age couple in the plaza and in real need. They were sleeping on a bench that night. Misery and Blue passed out the last of their supplies to them and gave them her pamphlets and cards.
They were so grateful for what I think was maybe so little. And they hoped it wouldn’t rain. They had nowhere to go.
As we walked out of the area, out of supplies to hand out, it began to sprinkle rain. We decided to head back to my car. By the time we pulled out of the parking garage, it was pouring rain. I know that each and every one of us was thinking of that loving couple we met on the park benches.
God Bless Them.
AFTERMATH: The books…
So the next day, I’m telling a family member, who knows all about me being Geist, about the patrol. After awhile I ask her about the detective series that she thought I would enjoy reading. So I’m like, “Hey, maybe tonight I’ll start reading that first Jack Reacher book. Where is it?” She says, “Oh, it’s in a bag in the trunk of my car. I’ll go get it.” And I hesitantly say. “Wait. Uh… no it isn’t. I gave those away. I thought you put those in the trunk as part of my donations to the shelter.” She was livid for a minute and says, “No, I didn’t. Those were supposed to go to a family friend. They were promised. I never said you could take the books in the trunk. I didn’t say anything about books.” She calmed down, understood my over-chartibleness and we’re hoping that the family friend will forget all about the promised books. Or I’ll be doing some apologizing. ;|
