A Day in the Park

Saturday my daughter and I met a friend and her little girl at Spring Park in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Both of the girls are under age eight. They had a grand time riding on the rides. They both really liked the train and rode it several times with out getting off. When it started to turn dark we went to the other side of the park. The park has a natural waterfall and a pond. Lights and fountains have been installed there. On some nights the lights and water dance with music that is operated by computer. It is a lovely calming activity for adults and a time for young people to dance. We were there a little early. My friend and I were sitting in my car. The girls were turning cartwheels on the grass. Several people walked down from the area of the waterfall toward us. There was something menacing about the way they moved. They were all large people. They were not exactly fat but big all over. As they approached everyone stopped and watched them descend from the falls. When they got even with the girls one of them, a female, took an intimidating stance. She had her fist clenched and moved toward my daughter. She said, "Yo better take you're eyes off me. What Yo think youre looking at B...h. "I still had my seat belt on and was on the drivers side of the car. My friend was on the passengers side. Across my friend through the opened window. I said, "that is my daughter leave her alone". The Amazon said "Yo better get her eyes off of me I'll whip Yo f...ing white A.." It has been a very long time sense I have felt the hot rage that I felt at that moment. I could not get to her before she could get to my daughter. To distract her I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. The girls got into the car as she continued to cuss me. I told her that I was calling the police. As the dispatcher came on line, the gaggle of hoodlums and the bully scurried toward their cars. There were too many of them to squeeze into a large black catty eight of them got into a white dodge. The dispatcher wanted to know if they were still in the park. I told her that they were attempting to leave. She asked me to keep them in sight until she could get an officer there. They were shrewd enough to go into Sheffield, which is another police jurisdiction. The officer who was on the cell phone from Sheffield was not only unhelpful he was rude. He was not going to waste taxpayer dollars to aid me and my friends. I continued to follow them until they turned up a dark street and stopped. My friend was yelling for me to stop and turn around. She had been saying this for some time. I just could not stop. I was going to take care of them if the cops could not. My friend grabbed my arm and said, "Rebecca, please do not go in there I'm afraid". The children started crying that they were frightened. With all of the limited self-control that I could muster I turned the car around. Now that the adrenalin is out of my system I know that I endangered all of us. We returned to the park. The girls had a great time dancing while I became calmer listing to the music and watching the water dance.