Name:
Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

What you have here is an old guy. In education for 30 years, started teaching elementary, ended as library and media director of community college. I've enjoyed mountain climbing, sports car rallying, was pipe major of a bagpipe band, played guitar and sang during the folk revival, walking and hiking later in life. Now fairly sedentary. Enjoy reading, esp. mysteries and fantasy, but my reading is pretty eclectic. Enjoy movies, giving Netflix a workout.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Naked Came A Stranger

A funny thing happened while we were in Chilliwack, British Columbia for Don Livingstone’s funeral and memorial. I didn’t want to write about it so close after the funeral. On Friday morning we had gone to breakfast or what passes for breakfast in nearly every chain motel these days. Orange juice, muffins, cereal and milk, coffee. We finished and returned to our room. We opened the drapes and Anna said, "Your braid is a mess. I’d better re-braid it. So I sat, undid the braid, and was brushing it out. Suddenly I heard a long yell with a upward note at the end, then repeated. I thought that perhaps it was a child running in the motel’s hallway, not an uncommon thing. In fact I had heard a boy earlier in the morning doing just that. Anna exclaimed, "oh, my god!" "What?" I asked.

I looked out the window. It looked upon the parking lot of the Day’s Inn. Along came a tall skinny guy completely naked. Right on his bumper, so to speak, was a Chilliwack police car, with lights going. Within moments three more police cars pretty much surrounded the fellow. He jumped over a low concrete wall and made to run off. They calmly told him to come back to the car and put his hands on the hood. The fellow obviously had some problems but they were not great that he did not understand that four policemen had four tazers aimed at his bare body.

He came back, then knelt down at their commands. Then one of the police cuffed him. This was on the other side of the police car so we no longer could see him. The police stood around for about ten minutes, chatting. Then one of the policemen got a blanket out of his car. They got the fellow to his feet, wrapped him in the blanket and put him in one of the cars. Before long a woman constable arrived with some clothes. Evidently the man was lucid enough to give her an address. Then an ambulance arrived. The fellow was strapped to a gurney and driven off for a mental evaluation, I am quite sure. The whole scene was slightly entertaining, but at the same time left one wondering. What was in the man’s mind? What must he have thought that would make him disrobe and run through the streets? Slightly disconcerting as well. I hope he got the help he obviously needed.

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