We peaked too soon for pre-election preparedness since it is now hurtling this way like a black German sedan. Saturday finds us low on fuel in what passes for staff utility transportation, so the fifteen minute city is all around and in scooper range if you can find one charged and not just dumped on the corner over by the Culpeper Gardens assisted living complex.

There was a general sense of relief on The Patio. The last of the formal Election Accusations have been conducted in the Friday news cycle, including ones of murderous intent, so we are relieved the morning jumble included the strange jobs report and some new revelations about the Manhattan subway manslaughter incident last year. That was a big deal for several news cycles and is back, inverted somehow.

For jobs, why talk about it in this curious 48 hours before the intensity of Tuesday? And that the tragic death might have occurred because of NARCAN administration by the police, not a vigilante?

So, the creative section is relaxed this weekend. We want to be rested for next week, and asked Melissa to do one of her things on the Fifteen Minute City. She is hoping Legal will let her concentrate more on the loose curriculum in Journalism she is taking over at George Mason, but that has been in an uproar as academia has acknowledged a fundamental change in the discipline in the information age. So, she collects some information.

This was the wire for Halloween. There was some activity around the building, a few garbed groups of a dozen merrymakers headed out. And that was when things were starting over at the Pentagon city Mall. She had a screen filled with an image of a formal dark Audi Sedan.

“So, just at dusk, opening event,” she started. “Woman carjacked in the Costco parking garage in Pentagon City shortly before 6 p.m. on Halloween. Audi A4 with Arizona plates approached by a man brandishing a gun and demanding the car keys. A woman companion grabbed the victim’s phone. No injuries were reported.”

There was some general nodding, since the Costco lot was across North Parking from the office in the Pentagon where Vic worked. Melissa shook her hair as she stabbed at the screen.

“This was the big one and Splash heard the helicopters out here. Shooting with multiple teen victims near the Harris-Teeter grocery store on Columbia Pike. Gunshots heard around 10:45 PM by S. Taylor Street. Large emergency response on scene for much of the night with three juvenile male victims in critical condition requiring treatment at the scene and third has serious, non-life-threatening injuries. No reports of arrests.”

This is an interesting take on life around town these days, and we used to stay north of the Pike to avoid the unexpected, but this seemed somehow linked as she propped the tablet up to display a last image of the ER at Inova Hospital.

“Closing the night’s activity over at Arlington Mills was a “Malicious Wounding” incident. The cops don’t connect it, but there seems to be a lot of gang related stuff. This one involved seven young men in two groups. Stabbing victim delivered himself to Inova Hospital’s ER.”

There was some laughter about that. Rueful laughter, maybe. But there should be some interesting stuff trotted out soon, and we can start a new chapter. With Halloween behind us and stores stocking more Christmas merchandise, we want to know: “Is it too early to put up Christmas lights?”

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com