This was not going to end well, I thought.
We were visiting an unfamiliar city while we explored Europe: Cambridge, England.
We walked out of a very local and very tasty restaurant, just gushing about the staff, the food, and how wonderful the experience was. Our 14 year old daughter had stayed behind at the bed and breakfast, and my wife decided we should take a walk before heading back for the night.
As we walked towards the market area of that quaint little historic English town two very nice police officers were walking towards us. We all stopped and chatted for a moment, and they left us with, “It’s getting dark, be careful, we’ve had some very unfriendly people in the area.”
Waves and thank yous were exchanged.
A couple of minutes later I looked up from our stroll and noticed a couple inside the edge of an alley with their backs to the wall. Odd. Less than 10 steps later I could see why. Some guy was gesturing angrily at them. By the time it all registered with me what was happening, that they were getting shaken down for money, it was too late.
The angry man turned out of the alley towards us and the couple made a hasty retreat headed the other way. This was not going to end well, I thought, and he was closing on my wife and me fast. Street lights were starting to pop on and this guy was about to pop off at us.
He was now about four steps from us and I did the only thing I could at that moment. I stepped in front of my wife, stuck out my hand, made direct eye contact, and with a big smile said, “Hi, my name is Steve.”
The potential mugger stopped, stared at my outstretched hand, paused, blinked, and slowly stuck out his hand. We shook. He said, “My name is Simon.”
I told Simon we were out for a walk, enjoying Cambridge, and asked him where we should go. He pointed towards the market square. After some more conversation his hard edge was gone, and as we parted company and he went on to find his next target, we both looked back and waved.
Afterwards my wife said, “Boy, that was close.”
Over the next week we would see Simon in the park with more people cornered and I’d give him a big wave and a loud “Hi Simon.” He would not stop what he was doing but he would turn and smile and give me a wave and a “Hi Steve” back.
As we’d continue through the park I would warn people headed his way to think about an alternate route because Simon the mugger was that way.
At the first possible opportunity I did let police know a mugger was roaming about but they said, “He’s one of many.” And I suppose that’s exactly why the two officers warned us that night.
One of the Simon spottings that week was near the drug clinic for addicted people. I strongly suspect that’s what was driving Simon.
Over the rest of the week Simon and I exchanged warm hellos and waves a few more times.
Simon was a criminal and I’m not making any excuses for him. He might have had trauma in life, or been just an opportunist trying to feed a drug habit. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t trying to fix Simon, I was trying to save us.
I can’t save everyone. I would not be able to save Simon, future potential victims, or anyone else that would fall into the gravitational well surrounding Simon. But there was something I could do in that unfortunate situation and I did it. One of my life mottos is Don’t be a Dick. I know when it comes to someone bent on aggression headed my way my personal course of action is to not be afraid, but put on a smile and be willing to talk and listen.
Along the way I’ve learned there is no sense dying all tensed up. If you find yourself in a bad situation, take a breath and think it through. And let me tell you that has saved my life too many times as a search and rescue pilot.
All these years later I still wonder whatever happened to Simon. Did he change, die, or lie addicted someplace?
Is there someone you still wonder about? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.
— Steve