Just a few highlights

I tried to park outside a building to wait for someone. It's usually calm there. Just so happens, a celebrity was there in a Volkswagen Bug taking up space for two cars. He'd also driven in the wrong way. He smiled as if to say, "I'm so cute and famous I can get away with this." He didn't make room for my car. I've never seen a famous person in that neighborhood before.

Years ago I saw another celebrity in a candy-colored VW bug elsewhere in the city. Maybe it's a thing.

Later I was somewhere else. There were a number of men there who I suspect are homeless. Nevertheless the crew there today was clean, helpful, well-mannered, and in one case, well-dressed. There was bonhomie and socializing of the highest order. When I had trouble with a machine, one of the men helped me, and was impressive.

There was also a man off by himself in the corner dozing while sitting down. I was aware of him because he was wearing quite a lot of citrusy cologne. Sometimes people who haven't been able to bathe think dosing themselves with cologne is an improvement. I don't agree.

Suddenly I looked up and a male and female police officer were behind him, asking him questions. They must have come in on little cat feet because I didn't see them approaching.

They asked him repeatedly for his driver's license or state ID. He said "I only have this" whatever that was. They asked him where he lived. He said he had stayed with a particular woman. They asked him about a car in the parking lot. It seemed like there might have been a connection between the car and her. They asked him for his social security number and address. This was all done very calmly and quietly. Maybe it kept him calm and protected his privacy to a degree. He answered their questions. I'm surprised how often criminals answer cops' questions.

Then there were more cops. One of the new ones told him he wasn't in trouble; they were just "checking things." Call me paranoid, but when the second tier of cops come in, you are beyond checking.

This went on so long that I went back to what I had been doing, questioning if I shouldn't really be watching the real live cop show in front of me instead. In real life it can seem wrong to stare at a man being brought down, even if he probably brought it on himself.

At some point I noticed that the smell of liquor or heroin seemed to emanate from him. He was extremely soft-spoken, even more so than the cops.

The female cop told him a little harshly that the car he had in the parking lot would be towed. Eventually she asked if he had anything on him. They arrested him. They cuffed him behind his back. I think they used those plastic twist tie cuffs. Then they walked him out. This was all done so softly that not everyone there was aware of it.

The other men did notice all the cop cars. They started speculating on what had happened. They had missed some stuff so I filled them in. We were crowd-sourcing. The guy who helped me with the machine had the most theories. He was sure the arrested guy had warrants, which was why he said he had no ID.

He offered that "All kinds of things happen in that parking lot. I saw a man and a woman making love."
"Were they in a car?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Thank God for that."

Many of the men didn't even see who got arrested. I said it was the guy in the corner who looked like he was from a certain country. The man who had helped me wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted to know if it was that country or the country next to it. I said that the arrested guy had physical characteristics in common with people from both countries.

Some time later I saw all the cops and the arrested guy still in the parking lot. The police seemed happy. I asked a cop what had happened. He could only tell me that someone had done "something stupid."

And eight other things happened that day. Those are just two of the highlights.

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