real life

last evening i drove past the East End Food Co-op on Mead St. There was a late model Lincoln Continental parked in the on-coming lane, the driver's door wide open. on the sidewalk, the appearent male driver and a young woman were locked in serious combat. He was attempting to force her into the passenger side of the vehicle and she was equally determined not to let that happen.
i pulled my car over to the curb and watched the steady flow of traffic pull-up behind the Lincoln and squeeze past the opened door whenever on-coming traffic would allow. Several impatient drivers sounded their car-horns at the Lincoln road-block- and the domestic-looking scuffle raged on.
It appeared to me that the young man's attempts at forcing the young woman into the car were being hampered by the increased flow of traffic past their combat zone.
in a bizzare turn of events, a SUV driver passed the couple, sounded their horn and received a clenched-fist salute from the young-man-as if he was hauling groceries to the trunk of his car.
the young woman finally twisted free from his grasp, some words exchanged, each combatant probed their respective cuts and bruises and the she began to slowly walk away from the scene.
the pay-off was when, in a last ditch to draw the recall the young woman to the scene, he reaches into to car and deposits a shoeless toddler onto the very spot the young woman had just vacated.
She had walked too far away to assume custody of the child so he redeposited the child into the car and sped off towards Braddock Ave.
i passed her and wondered: what was that all about. what is going to happen to her and the child. should i have interceded in their dispute. what about the baby....jim