Tuesday, May 31, 2011

TRUE Story !!! When I came to New York at 18...

my Dad, (rest in peace),
told me VERY SPECIFICALLY...
NOT to go UNDERGROUND...
meaning...NEVER, but NEVER, take subways, mass transportation, etc...
and I adhered to this advice pretty strictly...
So...
I took taxis or walked everywhere I went....

Fast forward a few years....
I'm in my 20's now...
living on the Upper West Side....
It's a beautiful, summer day...
and I've just finished a  dance class some 30 blocks from my apartment...
I've been in New York for about 5 years at this point....
and my father's staunch directions have faded into the back of my memory bank...

I see buses going up Broadway....
and I figure it's time to "bite the bullet"...
so I get on a  bus for the FIRST TIME EVER...
and I take a seat for what promises to be a quick, 10 minute ride...

THIS REALLY HAPPENED ....

Not 2 minutes after I step onto the bus,
a guy with a SHOTGUN in full, frontal view gets on it too....
He immediately yells out,
"I'm gonna SHOOT every single one of you today !!!"
I remember sitting there with my life flashing before my eyes...
like a video camera....play by play....reel by reel....
I can remember,
as if it were yesterday,
 my father's haunting words coming back at me....
I remember being frozen and sweaty....
and trembling and crying.....
There were maybe 5 other people on the bus...(all terrified)..
But I had chosen to sit in the front....
The first passenger the guy laid his eyes on.....

Well...a team of police officers showed up to try and talk the crazy sniper down off the bus...
I remember that it took them a LONG TIME to convince him not to shoot us.....
(what seemed like an eternity)...
I got off the bus after that...shaken to my core...
Needless to say,
 I NEVER TOOK MASS TRANSPORTATION AGAIN....
True story !!

IS IT ALL RELATIVE ?

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