Lunatic’s fringe
Being attacked by a madwoman is certainly a novel way to start the week.
After seeing Daren and Diana safely to school, I stopped just outside the Cambridge gate to clean my glasses and rub what was left of the sleep from my eyes. Andy A. hailed me and I was just telling him that Diana had had fever last week, when all of a sudden a deranged old woman grabbed my lunch bag, yelling unintelligibly the while.
I wrenched my bag away and nearly bopped her one in self-defense, but Andy stayed my hand and explained that she was off her nut. Right, like that’s an excuse. After venting some colorful invectives, she settled into what she apparently considered “her” spot by the gate and started to pray — PRAY, forsooth!
Andy went to fetch Security, while I remained not three feet away from where the woman crouched. When we explained what had happened, the guard on duty managed to cajole the old lady person into leaving. And off she wandered further up the street, as if nothing had happened. The guard looked at me, described circles next to his right ear in the universal “screw loose” gesture, and went back inside.
what the hell?
Why is someone like that even allowed near a school? The guard knew her; he was exasperated but civil while talking to her. Thank the gods for Andy; had he not been there, someone would now be temporarily out of her misery. (Then again, if he hadn’t started today’s conversation, I wouldn’t have stayed at the gate at all, hence wouldn’t have had to deal with a mental case. Go figure.)
Now I’m going to have to inform the school authorities, so they can take steps to keep her away from students, parents and other folks who actually have the right to be in the school. Oh wait, aren’t they supposed to be doing that already?
Jeez. It’s not like I have anything against people like her. For all I know, terrible things might have happened to her — so bad that she lost it altogether. Maybe there’s no overt cause, and it’s just her luck that her mind is going.
But it’s hazardous to everybody when someone like that is allowed to go about unsupervised. Where are her relatives? She didn’t look neglected or abandoned. Why aren’t they keeping closer watch on her?
What if I HAD managed to smack her in the face after she grabbed my bag? Would I be liable for causing bodily injury, when she was the one who started the whole thing? Because I would have. If Andy hadn’t stopped me, I. Would. Have. Bodily injury be damned.
What if the next person she goes for is a kid? Or is even more unhinged than she is?
It’s enough to drive a sane person crazy.
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