I arrived at the Ballard Family Center at 5pm. I sat down to proofread the bi-monthly newsletter, and shoot the breeze with Kristin. After about 5 minutes, we both remembered that I was there to take some photos of some of the ESL students. Kristin introduced me to the instructor, and I invited the three students outside where the light would be better for our pictures.

As we were walking outside, a man who had been sitting in the lobby stood up and confronted me. He was obviously quite intoxicated. And, he still had a plastic cup in his hand - a sip of dark liquid sloshing about. I had seen lots of drunks like this one in Ballard before. Usually they leave you alone. Occasionally, they'll ask for change. But, for the most part, they're annoying but harmless. This one was different. He was about my height, about 10 years older, I'd guess. And he was very pissed off at me for carrying a camera. Maybe he was just looking for an excuse to pick a fight. Maybe he thought I was going to try to take his picture. So, he starts into me - mumbling something about taking a picture, "..that damn camera,.." etc. I backed up, continued outside, hoping he would walk away. Usually, if you continue with what you're doing, these idiots will forget what they were riled up about, and move on. But, this guy kept at me. He ignored the three other people with me. Kristin, and the Ballard Family Center director noticed the commotion and followed us out to observe things. The guy then starts taking a fight stance, and keeps coming toward me, fists raised. I held up a hand to keep some distance between us, and kept moving slowly backwards. Pretty soon, he had me pinned between a bus bench and the electrical box for a traffic signal. I was a little speechless. Not scared, really. I just didn't quite know what to say to calm him down. So, I hopped backwards over the bench and kept backing up. More blather ".. that camera.. blah blah.. you're not going to take a picture,.. I'll hit you,... blah blah blah", etc. It did no good to reason with the guy. I knew he probably couldn't hurt me. He was pretty hammered. I'm not the fighting type. But, I figure I could have taken him, if it came to it. Some other people in the street noticed what was going on and tried to distract him, find out what was going on, ask him questions to calm him down. But, it didn't work. So, I decided to just disappear for a while to see if the drunk would go away. As I walked across the street, he re-entered the BFC. Robin, the director, promptly told him to leave, while Kristin called the police. I stepped into the Italian restaurant on the other side of Ballard Avenue to wait and observe. I wasn't worried about what he might do anyone at BFC. He seemed intent only on hurting me, for some reason. As I watched and waited, he left the BFC, and staggered down the sidewalk a little; stopping to karate chop the air a few times, mumble some things to passersby, and ponder where he might get his next drink.

A small crowd began to gather at the windows of the other businesses on Ballard Avenue. Several of the onlookers also called the police, I learned later. While I waited in the restaurant, I asked to borrow the phone to call the police. "Do you know the number?" the bartender asked me. Uh, yeah - 911. I would have called from my cell phone, but I left it over at the Center. I would have called the center to see if they were already calling the police. But, my Pilot was also left behind, across the street. The Italian owner of the restaurant came out to see what was going on. He said he would walk me back over to the BFC. He didn't realize that I wasn't looking for a bodyguard. I was trying to difuse the situation by waiting a little while for the guy to leave; and I still wanted to take some pictures outside, without being hassled.

The police never came. After the guy wandered further down the street, I returned to the BFC to finish taking the pictures - INside, this time. Someone from the police department called Kristin to say that they were too busy to come out, and somebody would stop by to file a report in the morning. I wonder if they would have come quicker if the guy had made me bleed?