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I had gone down to the Seattle Center for the High Tech Job fair, with 160 of the Pacific
Northwest's "hi tech" employers... Microsoft, Adobe, Intel, Fluke, AT&T
Wireless etc... it was the same cattle call as when I went last fall. I got some good
leads on new jobs though. Afterwards I made a foot journey to Glazers Camera to grab a
couple things I needed. Then back to the bus stop.
The bus came fairly quickly and once on the bus my mind usually just goes
into auto-numb mode Thinking about what I still need to prepare my portfolio, how I'm glad
I'm not at work today (cough, still sick), thinking about some of the incredibly delicious
women I saw today in their professional suits with their "hi tech" skills... Mmm
Mmm Mmm. I'm thinkin I should really take this job fair info seriously this time and
follow up on some of these leads, cause I'm very unhappy where I am... and obviously
very unappreciated by my asshole boss.
The bus stops and a few people get on, including a strapping young marine
in his dress uniform. It's quite impressive and he looks rather out of place on the bus,
but I don't think too much about it. back to thinkin about that black girl I bumped into
at the Corbis Image booth.
When I realize the bus is stopped and the bus driver has just uttered,
"oh my gawd... that guy just got hit!" Which didn't effect me directly. I didn't
come out of my stupor very quickly and I did not realize how serious it was till I lifted
up out of my seat with the rest of the bus to see, about 40 yards away, some body on the
street, trying to get up, trying to scoot themselves on their back.
The bus moves a bit forward and this dyke-esc chick stands up and
addresses the bus that someone should call 911, she yells it again..."Somebody call
911." Someone says "ok, I got it" (I however just sat there in my seat...
completely stunned). She further started barking out orders that someone had to go and
direct traffic at both ends of the block so that cars would not start piling up at the
scene, then she ran off the bus towards the accident. I remember thinking... what a
bitch... but later realized she was the only one reacting in a calm and decisive manner. A
couple people followed her off the bus.
The woman beside me announces she will walk, realizing that the bus would
not be passing through the area soon. I agree and we head towards the door. Many people
are standing and trying to see what happened and I start to feel a bit claustrophobic. I
need to get off the bus.
I exit almost directly at the scene. I take a few steps, I see a pick up
truck facing away from me with it's bumper dragging the ground, to the right a late model
Buick (needed in any crime scene) and the third, most important piece of this puzzle is a
dude laying in the street, kinda thrashing around.
Trying to calm him is somebody else, behind him is that Dress Blues
Marine... looking like a strange statue that didn't belong, just to the left is that bossy
bitch again... she's saying, "that's right just keep talking to him and tell him he's
gonna be all right." My head slowly pans the entire scene... everything in slow
motion... Just like a movie... the dude on the ground screaming in the background,
"Oh my gawd! Oh my gawd!" He keeps trying to get up... every instinct in his
being is saying..."I should not be here...where I am... and if I move quickly I will
be ok..."
I try to put the pieces together... how did these two vehicles collide
and how did they hurt the guy on the ground. The sun is out today... rather odd feeling
and it is late afternoon... so the sun is behind the scene. I'm looking into the sun...
I raise my hand to shade my eyes and I see another guy that I didn't
notice before... he looks massively confused... he's pacing back and forth... fraught with
concern... I follow his movement... he looks at the dude on the ground "Oh my gawd,
oh my gawd!" then his gaze swings to his left... I look to the ground, to get some
idea of his bewilderment... and for the first time I see a boot and a crumpled mass of
blue Jean and severed leg. "Oh my gawd, oh my gawd!" Jesus! The dude on the
ground just had his leg pinched off by two blunt hunks of steel. Then I see all the blood
on the ground and I find myself looking where his leg must have been...
Somebody, probably that pushy bitch, has covered that area with a towel
or a shirt or something. I turn and start walking... I take a few steps and as if someone
jerked my jaw... I turn to take another look... I can't believe what I am seeing... it
does not seem real... it looks just like a movie... that bitch is still barking out
orders... the marine is just standing over the dude at attention... his gaze meets mine
and his looks says..."how did I get here... and what the hell do I do?" I turn
away... cause even though he's a service man and we expect allot from him... I feel the
same way... I can't do dick! The dude on the ground is fucked up... he's wishin real bad
that he was any-fuckin-where but here, But he's not. A few minutes ago a couple bad
decisions were made and now his leg has gone over the center line.
As I walked the 20 or so blocks home... a thousand things went through my
mind, but mostly, I felt guilty every time I stepped on my right leg.
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