Ngaruawahia High School Yearbooks 2010-2012 Ngaruawahia High School Yearbook 2011 | Page 11

Walking Rev 3

1976. Brooklyn. Life was feeling pretty grim. I'd just
come out of a relationship that had imploded and I was angry
with everything and everyone. To say I was disillusioned is an
understatement. You might say I was self-destructive. I'd lost
everything and was as utterly, entirely alone as any poor
schmuck could be.
I felt attracted to the dark and the cold. I wanted to
wallow in my self-loathing and self pity. So I started going for
walks; late-night walks through the filthy city streets, past black
stinking alleys, past gutters where the debris in life vomited
their cheap liquor and begged for money to buy more. I just
dug my hands deeper into my pockets and pulled my hood
further over my hunched shoulders. No-one could see the
scowl that had found a permanent home on my face.
I guess I got a little too caught up in my own head and
became too confident of my own invincibility because one
night, at the corner of East 31st Street and Clarendon Rd, I got
mugged. Some hoods lurking in some lonely alley jumped me
and dragged me back into the darkness. They beat the crap out
of me and the next thing I remember is lying on some trolley as
it rushed along a brightly lit hospital corridor.
Some time later I regained consciousness. There was no
part of me that didn't hurt, and very little that wasn't
bandaged. Some lady in pale blue was standing to the side
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