Saturday, January 16, 2010

Stranger Danger

Son of a *^#%*

There's no denying it. I really like trains. I've established that. As such I enjoy photographing them and also model railroading. I'm going to single out the photography side as I'm going to relate an encounter I'd really wished I'd diffused immediately, instead of being the nice guy I aspire to be.

June 7, 2009, Sunday, Sunbury, Pennsylvania. My "fate"ful visit to my alma matter has ended and I'd really like to photograph the local freight that runs past the campus, for the modern spin on the old classic, and because I'm all about the nostalgia. It's quite a nice late Spring day and I hear a train a-comin' *momentarily breaks into Johnny Cash then composes self. THEN makes note to Feral about "borrowing" blog techniques*...

Anyways, throwing obsessive-compulsive security measures to the slight breeze with full abandon I dash out of my van with my trusty pixel sidekick on my neck and run to get into position; leaving both windows of the van wide open, the doors unlocked, mp3 player, radio, cell phone all inside awaiting the closest thief.

What appears to be a local man is meandering down the street with his dog Murphy. I know it's Murphy because after the train went by and I'm returning to my van this dog walker yealls Son of a B----! like he's just blown his chance of van-jacking me because he was watching the train. Good news for me. So the dog walker, who introduces himself as Gunner follows me back to my van and introduces Murphy (where I learned the dog's name) and asks if I may give him and Murph a ride to the VFW. He accidentally left his keys there the night before and his car is at the hotel across the river in Hummel's Wharf. Now, I'm buying all of this because in my college experience there wasn't much more to do than get polluted on Friday and Saturday nights (I'm happy to say I never partook beyond three shots in one sitting and have never been polluted in a drunken sense. I was the late night d.j. on the radio after all... sort of encouraging them).

So, even though I would rather have been going after the train, I let Gunner & Murph inside. A few empty soda bottles fell out of my van as Murphy jumped in. Gunner suggests I should clean my van (ironic that a guy who's seemingly living on the streets tells me to clean my van -- well, I didn't know his actual condition at this point, in all fairness).

"Okay, Gunner, where's the VFW?" He guides me through a couple wierd turns down sidestreets in Sunbury proper and he's asking me about Connecticut and Fairfield County specifically.

"You know Route 11 is closed up here don't you?" he informs when I tell him which way I'm going home.

"Yeah," and I explain how I now about the detour because that's the way I came INTO town Saturday morning, "Where's this VFW?"

"Take a left and go across the river." It's bad enough I went the opposite way of the train, I'm now over half an hour behind it and I'll never see it again wondering with each second when Gunner is gonna van-jack me.

"It's closed," Gunner comes back. Now I need to bring him someplace else and his stories raise another yellow flag (the first was his getting in in the first place. THAT one should have been RED). Ultimately we wind up headed back towards the river again.

"I can ride with you to Berwick," Gunner says. I pull over into a factory driveway along the main route.

"You're getting out here, Gunner. Don't forget Murphy."

"But you're headed home, right?"

"I've got something else to do first back the other way. You were supposed to have a short ride and your car is over in Hummel's Wharf."

In other words, don't let me run your rear end over and have a nice life. I waited until I could see Murphy was well clear of my van and there was a break in traffic. It took two hours to feel okay about myself again. I never should have let Gunner get so far with me.

2 comments:

  1. It sounds like a lesson learned there MO...I was getting anxious just reading the account!

    And feel free to break into song anytime, it`s reassuring to know I`m not the only one who does so. *Dances off singing 'Ring of Fire.*

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  2. Well, nothing would stop me from breaking into song, I was actually referencing the *inner thoughts* asides. But I trust your coolness that it's okay.

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