Who is One Stranger That You Still Remember

[Dodgersrf]

Certain smells are very distinctive too.

Ahh yes.
Ghost box must have a very spider-webby, cold smell to it

 

[Loyal]

Ahh yes.
Ghost box must have a very spider-webby, cold smell to it

prolly sugar and spice, with everything nice?

 

[Merlin]

When I was growing up in SoCal we never had money and my Mom was divorced and busy doing her thing (whatever that was and didn't want to know). So in the summers she would drop my next younger brother (I had 3 bros and was the oldest) and I at the beach in the morning and then we'd spend all day there and find our own way home. We lived about three or four miles from the beach so if you had to walk home it wasn't too bad but after a while we didn't have to do that.

We got into some terrible shit there being bored all day as young boys. And it didn't take long, being broke and all, to realize that there was money to be made with people leaving belongings on the beach while they were in the water and we got really good at supporting ourselves. One thing led to another and eventually stealing change and dollars out of wallets and beach towels turned into stealing valuables which turned into breaking into cars in certain key spots (I preferred the spots on PCH where I could see them while I did this, or the spots where the walk was very long for them). To us it was a game. Funny how you don't realize the impact of crossing certain lines when you're young right?

Anyway the stranger I recall most clearly returned early to his car and caught us in the act. I was about 12 or 13 at the time and we had jimmy'd the door open carefully and were both in his car when he returned. It was a shitty moment man. My brother, who was never as cautious as I was, was supposed to be keeping a watch but this was a really nice car and we were both excited to see what we could find. The guy came up on his side first and pulled him out like a rag doll (like something out of a movie where the cable pulls the actor, seriously) and hit him so hard in the stomach he passed out. I ran, or tried to, and the dude caught me quick and all I remember is he was a very large samoan dude and afterwords I had the worst black eye you can imagine. So bad that I was puking the next day from light (had to keep a shirt on my head).

After that shit I never broke into another car and had to refocus my "skills" into shoplifting (my generation is why cigarettes are locked up lol). But I've never forgot his face or the rage man. That dude honestly I'm surprised he didn't kill us. Samoan dude with a Tom Selleck mustache.

 

[Selassie I]

When I was growing up in SoCal we never had money and my Mom was divorced and busy doing her thing (whatever that was and didn't want to know). So in the summers she would drop my next younger brother (I had 3 bros and was the oldest) and I at the beach in the morning and then we'd spend all day there and find our own way home. We lived about three or four miles from the beach so if you had to walk home it wasn't too bad but after a while we didn't have to do that.

We got into some terrible shit there being bored all day as young boys. And it didn't take long, being broke and all, to realize that there was money to be made with people leaving belongings on the beach while they were in the water and we got really good at supporting ourselves. One thing led to another and eventually stealing change and dollars out of wallets and beach towels turned into stealing valuables which turned into breaking into cars in certain key spots (I preferred the spots on PCH where I could see them while I did this, or the spots where the walk was very long for them). To us it was a game. Funny how you don't realize the impact of crossing certain lines when you're young right?

Anyway the stranger I recall most clearly returned early to his car and caught us in the act. I was about 12 or 13 at the time and we had jimmy'd the door open carefully and were both in his car when he returned. It was a shitty moment man. My brother, who was never as cautious as I was, was supposed to be keeping a watch but this was a really nice car and we were both excited to see what we could find. The guy came up on his side first and pulled him out like a rag doll (like something out of a movie where the cable pulls the actor, seriously) and hit him so hard in the stomach he passed out. I ran, or tried to, and the dude caught me quick and all I remember is he was a very large samoan dude and afterwords I had the worst black eye you can imagine. So bad that I was puking the next day from light (had to keep a shirt on my head).

After that shit I never broke into another car and had to refocus my "skills" into shoplifting (my generation is why cigarettes are locked up lol). But I've never forgot his face or the rage man. That dude honestly I'm surprised he didn't kill us. Samoan dude with a Tom Selleck mustache.

That's the worst luck possible with the owner being Samoan.

But you both were actually lucky in a sense... I'm surprised he didn't kill you two.

 

[Juice]

I'm sorry if I wrote about this in another thread. I was in an airport and I had a really long lay over. I was young and had only been out of the state a couple of times before this trip. I'm at the bar having a beer and a shot, and an absolutely huge guy sits next to me. He just looks at me. I mean he looks at me like I called him over there. He slipped a card in front of me saying that he is deaf and can not speak. I took one of those thin bar napkins and wrote my first name, and slid it over to him. He smiled, and then he wrote his name, and just like that we started a conversation on bar napkins. We shared short thoughts on everyday topics. He was Native American, so we talked about what his tribe was doing to get by and how things were on the reservation. He laughed at my problems telling me that I wouldn't think about it much after time had passed.

I don't know. It was one of the best conversations I ever had, and I never said a word. He and I talked about a range of subjects, and he and I took turns buying cheap beers and shots of Crown.

He thanked me for the conversation and left for his flight. I went to the bathroom and came back to the bar. The bartender had taken the stack of napkins I had set aside and threw them away.

I'll never forget that guy, and I don't remember his name.