When I arrived back at my building yesterday morning around 8:00 AM, there were barricades and policemen blocking the entrance. Fearing the worst, I disregarded the barricades and ignored the cries of protest I heard behind me until the boys in blue blocked me. "I LIVE here. WHAT is going on?" I emphatically demanded with italicized gestures. "It's for the President,: said the bobby,. "OMG, Barack Obama? Wow! Well, do I just meander and mingle with the crowd?. I've been out all night. I just want to shower... The President? Really?"
A fundraiser taking place for the President was due to begin at the Warfield Theater a block from my building.
"I suggest you find something to do for at least the next hour or so," said the bobby.
"Well, if I'm going to be barred from my building, there's no better reason than the President. What an honor this is," I said smiling through sarcasm, About how long is this going to take?..
When they told me to become otherwise occupied for the better part of an hour or maybe more, I was over it.
"But I'm like a yard away from the door. It's like two steps,", I exasperatedly explained to no avail. I morphed back into the crowd of looky-loos and lushes and lamented my plight to the community of regulars I knew from neighboring buildings leaning out of their upstairs windows. "Hey, Michael,... yelled Candy from the West as she held up an orange tabby.
"Hey girl, is that yours? He looks just like Morris the Cat. I'm locked out here because of the President." I yelled.
"Hold on, I'll be right down," Candy said as she retreated from the window to reveal a jewel adornment embellishment left over from the building's grand days of yore in the area's infancy as Paris to the West. (Kanye West?)
I saw her next from a distance through the glass of her lobby's window as she suddenly emerged before me. .
"Ya want somethin from the store? I just got my food stamps., she offered. I followed her into the adjoining store and selected a Gator-ade. "Take two, It's on the government's dime,: she said, "It's a government kind of day.
Candy was clear in her confidence and conviction to rescue me. "What are you, sleeping with the Secret Service or somethin?"
Candy's outcry and second-hand spiel of my sorrow spit back to its source didn't match her clout as it turned out.
As Christians wearing cotton-candy smiles passed out invitations for free coffee I half considered joining them for a split second as an alternative to contending with the cast of trigger happy hopefuls clamoring to catch a glimpse of full frontal POTUS. Suddenly, a voice called my name from above. Leaning out of the 6th floor window, my neighbor Robert reminded me of something else that had happened once on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. But that was the stuff of textbooks.
"Hey Michael, BE AT THE BACK DOOR ON EDDY IN 3 MINUTES. I'LL SNEAK YOU IN,".
Wiki-Leaks has nothin on you. Thanks Robert!!
My satisfied sass virtually slapped the faces of the non-plussed officers as I silently dared them to react. With eyes that said, "Bring it", I blurted, So much for standing sentry staunchly, huh Officers? And keep it a secret from the Secret Service will ya?
I felt like a trick from the track as I skulked in through a side door next to the West Hotel. By the time I was out of the shower, the motorcade had passed and the President was at the Warfield joking about Kanye West for Speaker of the House. History was made. And the rest is...
