My group of friends, about maybe seven of us, were walking downtown to a bar. Every one was a little tipsy already, from our homemade concoctions we had been sipping earlier in the street. So, there is a joyous feel, people laughing, people flirting, people talkin, everyone ready for a shot or two. We are walking two by two because construction in this part of le centre-ville had closed off most of the road and sidewalk. BAM! I don't even know what i was doing or saying at the moment, but i just felt a stinging, burning pain on my neck. Suprised as hell, my hand shot up to the right side of my neck, looking at my hand i see a yellowish, clear slime, as i watch a shell drop to the ground. Yep, some asshole had DROPPED A MOTHER FUCKING EGG FROM ABOUT TWO OR THREE STORIES UP AND IT HIT ME!!!! Then, i begin to cry. A little because of the pain, a little because of the fact that my cute sweater and tank top and purse are now slimey and gross, but mainly, i was crying at my bad luck. why did it have to hit me? Then, i got mad and started yelling shit and wanted to go find the motherfucker who is so fucked up in the head that he thinks dropping random eggs on people is FUN. eventually, i cleaned myself up and didn't let it get the best of me and had a good rest of the night with my girls. So, that was number 1 of the night.
Number 2 and 3 happened one right after another. Suz, Camille and I are walking back to either Camille's place or Suz's place, we are kind of debating about this because Suz wants to go home and sleep in her own bed, so i was going to walk with her there and crash in her bed. Camille is adamant about all of us either staying at her place or at Suz's. Then Suz decides she wants to go home alone so she can Skype with her friends. I understand, so i say i'll just stay at camille's. But Camille will not let Suz walk alone and insists if she wants to go home alone, she must take a taxi. In the middle of this seemingly silly conversation, a couple is walking down the sidewalk across the street. The girl is pretty and blonde, wearing cute white pants, heels and an awesome Chanel purse. The man is tall, looks fit, has a crew cut and looks very military. All of the sudden she is pushed onto a nearby hood of a car, for a split second i thought he would lay of top of her and kiss her or something...but no. She struggles back up and pushes him away as they yell back and forth to each other. She starts to walk away and he catches her a few seconds later, pushing her harder and grabbing her. She gets away and enters a building i can only assume is her apartment. It is then he realizes we're watching with astonishment and anger. he yells at us in french, too fast for me and suz to understand of course, but camille is calm and tells him we're just waiting for a taxi. he yells some other stuff and then, unfortunately, goes into the same building the girl entered about 30 seconds before. Damn. i was hoping the door would've been locked. I couldn't help thinking as we crossed the street and walked the block to the train station where all the taxis wait, that she was getting the shit beaten out of her and there was nothing we could do.
Then, approaching the station, we see a trash can on fire. It was actually for recycling i think because it was only filled with paper. Camille knocks it to the ground so it wouldn't spread to the other cans close by. She tries to spread it out and stomp some out, but its no use. So she calls the fire station and we stand there waiting, watching the plastic can melt into a pile. The police arrive first and take her name, birthday and address and we leave, after putting Suz in a taxi, of course. For me and Suz, it was a realization that Angers is only safe to a certain degree. That Camille being persistent about her taking a taxi and not walking home alone was not for paranoid reasons. It was for real reasons and how naive were we to think we knew better than her...i guess the universe wanted to prove to us that Camille knew what the hell she was talking about. That she knew there were shitty people every where, even in a nice city like Angers. Talking about this later, Camille explained to me why she doesn't like those "type of people." By this she meant North Africans i.e. people from Algeria, Morocco, etc. whose cultures are similar to those of the Middle East in their views of women and power. She tells me she's not racist, though most French people would think she was, but she explained very clearly to me that the only reason she doesn't like people from that area is because they claim to be French, yet do not follow French ideals and values, instead, enforce their own and talk shit when people think they're crazy (like us). This all made sense to me as to why she was saying this after she told me that what he was angry about was because his girlfriend talked to another man. TALKED, not kissed, not slept with, not touched, TALKED. He also threatened us, saying if any of us were alone, he would've crossed the street and beaten us....soooo.....that's fun. I do understand where she is coming from. I don't think she is racist. She has a very French point of view. A universalistic view. That if you are living in a country, or even just visiting, you should accept their culture and their values and try to live like that. That when you are in a country where women are respected (more so than in countries like Algeria and the Middle East), you have no right to infringe on those values. And if you don't accept these values, then don't be in France. It was a very serious moment. Some would call it a buzz kill, but i would call it a realization. Camille actually said she was ashamed of her country because of that guy and the other "rebellious" asshole who started the fire. She then said she should've done something. She started to take the blame because she didn't try to help the girl. She said she would've rather died trying to help that girl than live with fact that the woman probably had a fat lip by now or was unconscious... i tried to convince her that he probably either had a knife or gun on him already or could've killed her or all three of us and the other girl with his bare hands. She was being stubborn though and let it get to her. So, we just decided to go to sleep and "sleep on it," as they say.
I was surrounded by awesome people last night, people who like me and care for me, and who i really liked as well. I believe they are all good people, or try to be, at least. Yet, in our little happy "partying" world, three cruel and immoral people penetrated our lives with their evil. Yes, even dropping an egg on random people is evil, it's downright mean and uncaring. There are still people in every country, every city, who are insecure or unhappy or just insane and they take it out on innocent people. As pessimistic as this sounds, the world will never find peace because of people like this. People who are close-minded and selfish...who can't even love themselves. Peace is a nice thought, a positive hope, but it's not realistic. What can we do? There's a sense of powerlessness when people do things like this. We could've called the cops on the wife-beater, but by the time they got there it would've been too late. And for the pyro, the crime was done and he got away without being seen...same for the stupid kid who threw the egg...because no one was REALLY hurt (me), the cops can't do anything. I guess all we can do is try our best to keep the scummy people out of our lives and try to find happiness between the shadows of immorality and inhumanity.
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