A week or so ago I went to the park. It's kind of far from here, but it's somewhere I used to play all the time when I was a kid. The park has two levels to it, up top there is a baseball diamond, the pavillion, the water pool, and the playground, down below there's a path to walk on, but also there's a boat club. So, there are lots of docks and lots of boats around. There are swans and ducks and geese that live down in the water by the shore, and that's really why I went the other day.
When I got there, I drove down to the water, and noticed that there was a police line up blocking off the path. I was going to walk along it, but obviously couldn't. So, I wandered over to the water and watched the birds. There was one Canadian goose in particular which was amusing. It managed to chase another out of the water, and also to chase some kids away. I took my photos and left. (My reason was going there was to get rid of the film in my camera, I was going elsewhere later and didn't have the right speed film in my camera for that.)
I mentioned what I'd seen to my mother, grandfather, step-grandmother and a very good friend of the family later on at dinner. The friend of the family figured that it must have been an accident while putting the boats in the water. He keeps his sailboat there, so he knew they were supposed to be putting the boats in the water that weekend. So, I went off with the assumption that they'd dropped a boat or something silly like that.
I found out a few days later that the police line had been up because a woman had been raped, by a group of four guys.
It's absolutely terrible to think that the place I used to play as a kid, the park where my mothers wedding reception will be held later in the year, the path that I've actually walked down several times, could have something that dreadful happen there. It's like, there isn't a safe place anywhere anymore.
Posted by Michelle at May 13, 2002 02:43 PM