Ok, fine. It's totally not voluntary. However, I'm getting so well acquainted with freeway and streets there, I feel like a local. A regular. Like it's almost, almost almost but not quite, voluntary.
Tuesday pre-meeting -
I had to go to the city council meeting. At night. First time. My mom suggested my father come down to LA to take me to an hour-long meeting in Compton. Ummm..yeah.
I, on the other hand, sent a mass text to my "local male friends" asking for volunteers to come with me. Whether my "local male friends" were scared pitless or they were just busy, who knows. I was prepared to venture off alone. I filled my tank, didn't wear "colors," got mapquested directions, I was set.
Then the Persian randomly texted me a couple hours before I was going to leave asking if I found someone to come. I said no, but that I'd be ok. And then he says something about a guilty conscience if I die. Thanks, really.
He brought his friend's dagger. No joke. Case and all. It had a jungle/animal embossed print on it or something. Serious business.
We arrive and the city hall doors are locked. We had to find the "Council Chambers." We go to the back and, I don't know how to describe this properly, but there was a giant shallow pool thing in the back of the building that, well, I failed to see pre-walk-in. You can't blame me, the water was so still, it looked like the floor. AND ladies and gentlemen, it was super shallow so it also...looked...like the floor.
You had to have been there!
I was looking into this window and then, to get closer, closer, closer "I put one foot in front of the o-ther...." and soon I'll be walking into wa-aa-ter. I missed the pool. Just didn't see it.
I didn't know it existed. The next thing you know, BAM, both my feet are in this pool, the homeless man in the distance is like "Uh-oh," and Omid's eyes widen as he looks almost as perplexed as I do. "You know, I was just gonna say this pool looks kind of nice."
He couldn't have said it, like, two seconds earlier?
Who puts a pool there!? Against a government building? Really, now. Really? I mean, I.... wouldn't.
I walked into the meeting with soaking feet, jeans that were wet a little less than mid-calf height.
It was so cold. So very cold.
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