This is no rhetorical question for me at the moment.
This morning, when I went to get my newspaper, I was jumped! Assaulted. By an unknown assailant. And beaten about the face and neck. Until he ran off...
I was down for the count on the first blow, and so did little to protect myself from what came after. Then, when he was gone, I got to my feet, and called 911. I did some other things, too, but remembering them became problematic.
The police and the paramedics were wonderful, both professional and kind. Plus, they laughed at my jokes!
So did at least some of the medical personnel at the local hospital. They were kind, too. The nurse told me about her own facial trauma, from a car accident, and I guess that was supposed to make me feel better since she's looking OK right now.
And the MD gave me the most surprising news I've ever heard. He told me that the CAT scan of my head showed "there was nothing wrong with [my] brain!" Many other people have told me just the opposite with less concrete information to go on! I was relieved.
Physically, the immediate outcome is that I have a broken nose. I am becoming more like my father everyday! But he got his from an opponent he could actually see-- in a boxing ring in the Army.
My assailant? I got a look at his clothes, coming and going. And I didn't see what hit me... But I also didn't see his eyes... This is what bothers me most right now: I can see him coming at me, in his black hoody, but I can't see his face, and I can't see his eyes...
Like Death: black hood; no eyes...
I'm pretty achy at the moment, and I can't breathe very well, but I still have my half-wits about me, and I'll survive. But I have experienced a "random act of violence." One of the few that occurs in my neighborhood every decade or so...
And I can't yet make sense of it... That's the hard part at the moment-- I mean, except for the breathing. It doesn't make sense to me.
It didn't at the moment either. I mean, I didn't scream or cry out or say, "NO!" or any of the things self-defense classes teach. All I did was shout: "Why are you doing this to me?"
Of course, he didn't say...
Death never does have to explain himself. Maybe his younger brother, Assailant, doesn't either.
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4 comments:
Dear TRXTR -
Oh my. I am so sorry to hear about your attack. I am also sorry to hear that it was an inexplicable assault. So you get to be in pain AND confused. Ugh.
(Mistaken identity?)
Glad you are not umm ... badly? seriously? injured. And, I am not surprised that you snapped off jokes. That last line about Death and the Assailant (potential play title) was exact. Hope you heal quickly! And, hope they find him, particularly so that you could look him in the eye.And, shout: What the hell!" Or somesuch.
P.S. Swear it wasn't me. :-)
CoyoteFe, yes, you know, the "seeing again, this time for understanding," would be helpful. The senselessness of it will bother me. What WAS he thinking? I'd like to know...
And yes, I'd like to look him in the eyes... THAT would settle a lot in me...
Thanks...
What a terrible thing to have happened. It is enough, yes, to make you question the sense in it.
Be well and I am glad you were not seriously hurt.
BTW, our mutual friend Fe, recommend this site to me....glad I came to visit.
Rebecca, I'm glad you did, too!
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