Tragedy

I had intended the day to be special, in a different way. Driving down Ludlow street on Saturday Feb 20th to pick up my fiance for a trip out to Montauk, the car was all packed, cats watered and fed, stereo playing the right mix cd. All was better than just well with the world -- a cloudless blue sky, a perfect day for a drive and an adventure.

Ludlow was congested with cars, so I was only driving 10 mph or so. Crossing Stanton, and I slip the car into neutral, coasting. I look to my right, out the passenger side window. And she falls into frame, hitting the pavement, bouncing ever so slightly, with a bone jarring, crunching "Whomp" that I felt in my marrow. Was that a dummy fallen from a store window? It looked like a girl in jeans and black shearling jacket -- but the feet had no socks, and it was bitterly cold. Her toenails were red.

I pulled the car over, threw on the hazards, and jogged towards her. People were already appearing - a woman's face turned to me, "Someone call 911!" I backpedalled, retrieved my cell from my car, and turned back to help the young woman, if it was possible.

I repeated the address twice to the 911 dispatch -- and then she twitched violently, it looked like she was trying to use her one horribly bent arm to get up -- blood steamed down the pavement towards the gutter, deep red and coagulated in the cold. But she was breathing, it seemed. The cement was filthy, covered with refuse and cigarette butts. She lay face down, jacket pulled over her head, her lower back exposed to the cold. She had a multi colored tattoo in the shape of a diamond, and a large brown mole on the left side of her back. Her fingernails were pink. I couldn't see her face.

The EMT's arrived impossibly fast, and moved her into the back of the ambulance. But it sat there at the curb as fireman, police and denizens of her building milled about, dazed. Chinese women with their pushcarts full of laundry jostled me to get a better view.

We left after providing contact information, but it's with me still.