A very bizarre night.

I know, I know... most of you, who know me, know that bizarre stuffs happen to me all the time. Like when Jay and I were coming out of the Buttery Restaurant and a homeless man w/ AIDS wanted a hug from me because he hasn't had human touch for a long time. Or when I gave the drug addict prostitute a ride home, because it was pouring down rain, and I got stuck by her syringe needle in her sweater pocket.

Last night, however, was more bizarre than usual.

Last night (technically, it's this morning since it was after midnight), I went to the main post office on Fayette Street. When I was done at the post office and pulling out of my parking spot, a hysterical young woman ran to my car screaming that she was attacked by and robbed by a black man and a black woman.

I offered to called the police with my cell phone, but she insisted that I call her bank first so that she can cancel her credit card before her muggers use it. When it became evident that she was not going be persuaded that calling the police first would be the better course of action, I relented and called Chevy Chase Bank's 800 number (using directory assistance). As it turned out, the bank was transitioning to a new phone system and customers would not be able to get to an operator until the next day.

Finally, she was willing to let me call the police. When a woman police officer arrived, she was reluctant to give any detail about where she was coming from and where she was going.

At one point, she broke down and revealed that she was working on "the Block" and was headed to a main road. Evidently, she had lost her warehouse job in Glen Burnie. With her savings dwindling and no prospect of a new job, she had to resort to working on "The Block". And when her shift was over, she was hoping to "hitch a ride." But because she was not familiar with the city, she got lost and ended up in a secluded area where she was mugged. She confessed that she wasn't willing to give that part of the detail to the police officer at first because she was afraid that the officer wouldn't treat her like a regular robbery victim.

Now, here's the bizarre part. She wasn't able to give a coherent story and the details of the attack were sketchy at best.

For instant, she described the location as a park area where there are benches next to a tennis court. There's no such place.

Then, she said that the muggers took her credit card and cell phone. However, they didn't take any money since she didn't have any cash. That's strange because if she had been working on "The Block", her entire night's earning would be mostly in cash tips.

Without any lead to track down the muggers, the officer wasn't able to do anything for her except to give her an incident report with which to report the stolen credit card.

After the police officer left, I let her use my cell phone to ask her friend to come pick her up and take her home. I waited with her at the post office until her friend arrived. Although her friend lives in Glen Burnie, near her, he arrived rather quickly (less than 15 minutes).

As I drove home, my thoughts spun trying to figure out what actually transpired. Nothing seems to make sense. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Could it be some kind of scam? Is it possible that by calling her friend on my cell phone, they would have my cell phone number and they can exploit my cell phone number?

As I turned south from Fayette Street onto Martin Luther King Blvd, still pondering over the possibility of being scammed, over half a dozen police squad cars with their lights flashing and siren blaring, made the same turn right behind me. As I pulled over, five or six of them flew past me. But, one pulled over behind me.

So I waited for the officer to approach. And I waited. And I waited.

Finally, I stuck my head out my window and asked the officer if he had pulled me over.

The officer laughed and said, no, he pulled over because there's something wrong with his squad car.

As I said, a very bizarre night!