It was late-ish, I was in Downtown Portland and I could hear my heels clickity-clacking down the street. Soon enough, I heard another set of clickity-clacks, speeding up to me. The lady smiled at me and said, “Hey, let’s walk together! So we don’t look so alone.” So I let her walk with me. She asked where I was going, I told her, Berbati’s Pan, to see a burlesque show. She was a bit alarmed that I wasn’t exactly sure of the address, just sort of sure. She insisted that the street I was looking for was actually on the other side of the river.
She offered to give me a ride in her car. I tried to talk my way away from her, but she refused to let me go without first trying to use the pay phone to call 411 to ask for directions. (It didn’t work.) Then she stopped a poor lady passing by, jabbering on her cell phone.
The first lady, asked cell phone lady if she knew where Berbati’s Pan was. Then she insisted she ask the person on the other side of the phone to look it up. I stood there dumbfounded as the cell phone girl actually slowly and carefully spelled the bar’s name. She soon told me the exact address and gave me directions on how to get there from where we were all standing. At this point a very drunk homeless man came charging through, declaring that it was rude for us to stand in the middle of the sidewalk, so I was glad to be surrounded by others.
The lady looked a bit defeated that she was wrong about the address and would not be able to save a damsel in (not really) distress. I thanked them both and headed over to the club.
I realized after, that I did not learn their names, so, Lady #1: You freaked me the hell out, but thanks for caring so much about my safety. and Lady #2: Thanks. And thank you for not decking us when we asked you for help.
