Aliens in the City

Indianapolis seems alien to me. I've lived in Indiana all my life and therefore have made frequent trips to the city, but still I feel that I might as well be a foreigner. Maneuvering the city in my little Mazda is one of the most stressful things I can think of. "What part of the city am I in?"; "Where can I park at"; "Is this a one-way?". Its bewildering to me, and I grew up just thirty minutes to the North.

Saturday; Carey, Cassie and I made the trip to Indy. I drove because Cassie's car if full of crap. Plus I didn't have a car on campus last year, so I guess I need to make up for all the rides I bummed. Getting there was easy, its maneuvering the criss crossing city streets that causes me anxiety. We were looking for the Murat theater to see if tickets were still on sale for the musical Rent. I hate Rent, but I needed to get off campus anyway possible. Lucky for me tickets were in the $40-$50 range, and we were but poor student folk. I parked my car in a residential area of the city, which I suppose is OK. After learning from the bitchy French box office lady that the show was out of our price range, we trudged along the Meridian St back to my car.

As soon as we left the Murat, a man (who I assume was homeless) approached us. I've dealt with my share of hobos in Indianapolis, and have been taught how to deal with them. Somehow the man sensed that we weren't from around the area, and made the most of the situation. He gave us a story about how he got a flat tire and needed a new tire hose. I'm pretty gullible, but even his unorthodox story didn't convince me. I'm not going to go into physical detail of the man, but It was clear that he didn't own a car.

Now it is my rule of thumb that when approached by the city's hobo folk I either; avoid eye contact, give them spare change or better yet useful items such as food or a spare sweat-shirt or blanket. No matter what I give, I hand it over and that's it, maybe a quick conversation but I don't proceed to the parking garage until the homeless man looses interest in me. Carey an Cassie, who did not have any change or singles, proceeded to allow the man to follow us around the city as we went to local businesses in pursuit of making change. It took us a couple of tries, and each time Carey came out of a store empty handed I gave him a disapproving look. You don't let a homeless man follow you around the city. After they paid the man, I went off on them for putting our lives in danger.

Carey agreed that it was probably a mistake, but Cassie went on to imply that I was a racists and unsympathetic to the less fortunate. "I'm not apologizing, that was the right thing to do". Maybe I overreacted, but instead of debating the situation, Cassie reacted by giving me the silent treatment. That infuriated me even more because this was telling me that Cassie thought she was some righteous queen. Sometimes the things Cassie does, uhhhhh.