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| Our destination? Frankford Hall beer garden. Obviously you'd take the Frankford train stop to get here right? Right?! WRONG! |
We're heading to this newer beer garden to meet some friends and we're taking the train so he's Google mapping it.
Me, Steven and Bclarke board the Market-Frankford train. The minutes tick on by and I start to get anxious so I say, "I feel like we've been on this train forever," and Steven rolls his eyes.
"Google was wrong," he said. "It said the train ride was only seven minutes."
"Where are we getting off?"
"At the last stop, I think it's Frankford," he says. He's got so much confidence in his voice and I don't even question it.
The train gets to the last stop, we step out of the station and into the sunlight.
Immediately, I notice a squat low row of dingy unkempt buildings, a fried chicken place, a dollar store and a McDonalds. Music in another language sifts out from the windows of the dull banged up cars as they roll by. The hot pavement smells mix with pee odor and my heart quickens.
The next thing I notice is the all the loitering. People stand grouped together on corners with the swig-swaggy gait of drug dealers trolling for business. A few poorly dressed homeless are draped over scuffed benches and thick girls stroll by with heavily hooped earrings and tight jeans too snug against lady lumps.
"We are not in a good part of town," I said, looking over at Steven. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," he says, taking out his phone to pull up the directions. We stop and stand outside the building, waiting for him to direct us.
I frown at a yellow condom buried in a cluster of cigarette butts and small plastic baggies at the base of a bench where two people are sitting. One is drinking something out of a half-gallon milk jug and it's definitely not milk. The other guy gives me a broken-toothed smile and I retreat back to the safety of the building wall.
"You need to use your phone right now and get us out of here," I tell Steven.
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| What's this? Oh just the map showing recent crimes in the area. |
I look over at Bclarke and he doles out a calm Irish smile.
"This is a bad part of town," I tell him. "And we lived in Trenton."
"We did live in Trenton," he said.
"Whoa," Steven says, looking at his phone concerned. "I think we took the wrong stop."
"Well let's get out of here," I say.
"This thing isn't working," he says.
Across the street, I notice some kind of hullabaloo and I start to pay attention. There's a rail thin man in a grungy tee and a lady in purple pushing him roughly. She's got the frizzy-dried up look of a long-time drug user. She swings at him and her fist hits his face.
"Something's happening over there," I said.
Then she picks up a four-foot steel pole that was leaning up against a garbage can and me and Bclarke both gasped.
Steven looks up from his phone, "I want to use the phone but I also want to watch what's happening."
"Holy shit, she's got a pipe!" I say. Bclarke let's out an "Oh shit!"
Sure enough, she tromps after him and he's evading her light swings. People start moving in for a better look.
"That guy's an idiot," I said. "He just keeps coming back." He could just leave her, and run away, but instead he's circling her and it's obvious that he's still talking to her and she's just screaming. She's getting more worked up and she's swinging like she means it now. The pole connects with his leg and I wince.
"It's funny because I was just reading something that said there were higher concentrations of crime near train stations," Bclarke said. "Nothin' like walking into a nice little domestic assault, huh?"
Crazy lady swings and lands a blow on his shoulder that glances off. Now he's holding his position and refusing to move. She waves the pole threateningly. She brings it up over her head and brings it down hard and he jumps to the side, missing it but she's after him swinging wildly.
"I should be video taping this," I think, but will I get mugged with my iPhone out? I decide to risk it.
"Yeah, we're definitely at the wrong stop," Steven says. Bclarke suggests a cab. "We're really far out of the way," Steven says. "I thought because the beer garden was Frankford Hall that Frankford was the stop we were taking."
The lady chases the man, hitting him with the pipe. "This is nuts she's gonna kill him," I say. At this point, I'm taping it but I can't figure out how to zoom in, when a cop car pulls up. "Show's over, cops are here," I say.
Bclarke and Steven are talking about how we need to get more tokens if we're going to take the train back to the stop we missed. "I'm just going to go over to McDonalds and get some fries and break this bill," he says.
We follow him into the McDonalds. Bclarke orders fries and hangs at the counter and I'm uncomfortable so I hang out by the door. I'm anticipating a robbery at the very least. Then I notice that there's an armed guard inside the McDonalds.
Thank god! I think, relaxing a little.
I positioned myself closer to the armed guard because he had a very large gun in his professional-looking holster. He's a Spanish guy and his attention is trained on the cop who's dealing with the assault case we just witnessed outside. They've gotten the pipe away from her and she might be handcuffed.
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| Change? |
"What's going on out there?" I ask, trying to sound casual. I figure if he's paying attention to me, there's a less likely chance I'll be raped, murdered or mugged.
"Oh, he tried to kiss her, and she attack him," he said, opening the door and looking over to where they were. "This happen all the time," he says. "He kiss her and they fight, then they make up and it's all over again and again," he explains.
"Are you here all the time?" I ask him.
"Most times, yes," he replies."It's a zoo out there. I would have gone out to stop it if someone was really getting hurt, but they do it all the time those two. They're always at it."
I go back to Steven and quietly tell him that we're going to get murdered. He ignores me but brings up the tokens again, telling me that we're going back on the train and taking it to Girard.
A wobbly chubby guy overhears our conversation and starts digging into a pocket. Is he going to try to sell us some rock? He gets Steven's attention with mumbles and holds his gaze. He pops a shiny token out of his pocket and squints as he holds it up. "You need a token?" he offers, swaying.
Steven, "Nah we're good."
I want to wait outside because I feel like the McDonald's air is going to give me AIDS but when I glance outside, I see a messy looking hunched over crack head with boobs down to her belly button and a grizzled man wearing tatters sitting on an upside-down crate. They're looking at me and I know they want to ask me for change.
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| What kind of train stop is this??!!! |
Bclarke gets the fries, we head back to the station, get the tokens and high tail it outta there.
Once we're safely back on the train, I turn to the boys, "Well, we had a little adventure, saw a nice little domestic assault and escaped unscathed. I can't wait to tell everyone about it."
Steven says, "That security guard called it a zoo but it was really like getting dropped off at Jurassic Park with all the lights off and the raptors running around."
Steven says, "That security guard called it a zoo but it was really like getting dropped off at Jurassic Park with all the lights off and the raptors running around."