baltimore, the city that reads bleeds

when j. and i were first married, we lived in the upper fells point neighborhood of downtown baltimore. we enjoyed living in a mid-sized city where we could walk to work, restaurants, entertainment and the water. in our mid twenties we didnt spend a lot of time thinking about safety, school scores and other features that i find myself pouring over now as we look for a new home. granted, we paid $58K for our house and our mortgage was something like a piddly $565/mo. ahh, those were the days.

but then one otherwise fine new years day when i was driving home from my parents house it all changed. as i approached a 4-way stop intersection, in a less than desirable neighborhood (two blocks from our own home), a man approached my jeep and pulled his jacket back where i noticed a handgun tucked into his waistband. i took off and didnt look back. for the most part that less than desirable part of the neighborhood kept to its side of broadway, while we kept to our own. but broad day light? come on, that was enough for me! a few months later we selected our current house and moved to the 'burbs. i wasnt too sad to leave behind baltimore.

today i went back to baltimore on a field trip with f. class. we went to the baltimore & ohio railroad museum. i dont get much time to do things just with f., so i was looking forward to the day. we climbed aboard that noisy school bus and away we went. i spent much of the morning chasing after f. and a classmate, saying things like "stay together boys". but it was fun, that is until we boarded the train to take a ride along the very first stretch of railroad ever built in the us. the train started to exit the platform as we settled in for our 20 minute ride. just as the boys were asking me if the train was going to go any faster, it came to a complete halt. we sat for a minute or two and then mom's started to say things like "well honey, we are probably just waiting our turn, you know like at a traffic light". then i saw the volunteer aboard the train pick up her cell phone and her eyes widened as she replied to the caller "ok, will do". a moment or two later, i overheard that same volunteer exchanging words like "chalk outline" and "victim" and "heading back to the platform" with f.'s teacher. so we returned to the platform and climbed aboard the bus another time. once again, i didnt really find myself looking back on baltimore, the city that reads bleeds.