A close encounter
Sometimes you end up in the right place at the right time. Without expectation, I caught my usual bus towards the university campus, watching the clock to assure a timely transfer. When the first police car went by, I thought nothing of it. Big city. The second slowed as it passed, and the third simply stopped at the next corner.
By the time the count of flashing lights racks with attached patrol cars reached two dozen, it was obvious that there was a wrinkle in the fabric. Crowds were starting to mass up on both sides of the street, but at least they weren’t pointing at me. The odd part is that this was a multi-force gathering, with vehicles bearing the logos of the university, the city, the province and finally, the nation. No signs of tension; no lacrymogenous grenades, or rubber projectiles (unlike the last time we had a show of authorized force within city limits). Just a distracting red and blue dazzle.
I had forgotten; better yet, I had never known. There’s a relay going on, and this is our turn to welcome the Olympic Torch on it’s circuitous tour around “the second largest nation in the world”. I’m not a likely candidate to ever have to run my 300 metres, but I can watch and applaud the efforts of (so many) others. The transfer of one quantum of flame to another took place within a snowball’s throw of my position in an overcrowded bus shelter, and I can say that I did my part.
