Scary Downtownies

Walking down one of the sketchier downtown streets early this morning, I thought I might have heard a gun shot.  A woman pushing a baby in a stroller about 5 metres ahead of me didn't have any reaction to the sound whatsoever... I guess she was either heavily sedated (Valium - Mommy's Little Helper! Wheee!), or else she just lives in the area in probably didn't hear it.  Kind of like living in a flight path or near train tracks - eventually it's all just background noise, I guess.

I am not one to loiter during possible gun-play, so I hurried on my way.  At the end of the next block, I patiently waited for the lights to change so I could cross the busy street.  CU-koo, CU-koo from the light stand.  As I relfected on the blind-people sound effects, it registered on some level that the man on the opposite side of the street was smacking himself in the head.  It looked like he was smacking as hard as he possibly could, too.  I didn't notice if the smacks were in time with the crossing signal sounds.

I thought Mr. Smacky-Pants was a potentially dangerous lunatic, so I prepared myself to pass him without getting smacked myself: I pulled out my cell phone and made a quick call, so that if I made any eye contact with the scary downtownie, it would appear to be completely incidental.  Plus, if I were fatally smacked, the person on the phone would know immediately that I had met with foul play.  As it turned out, he was not merely loitering!  He proceeded to cross the street when the light changed, and as I passed him, I noticed that he kept his smacking hand out while his other hand was tucked safely into his pants pocket (like a concealed weapon). 

Carrying on down the street for another half a block, and there was a police car parked right on the sidewalk, with two bright-eyed coppers getting out.  I thought maybe they were looking for Smacky-Pants, but then I remembered that I might have heard a gun shot...  I love coming downtown every day!!