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Bear that Owned a House
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(True Story) by Vinod V
Posted
on August 8, 2003
All
New Yorkers
crave Friday, Saturday and Sunday during which they recharge their batteries and
get ready to take on another Monday. Early one Saturday morning, I woke up
before everyone so that I could go to the dry cleaners, buy some stamps and
basically get everything done before 12 noon. This Saturday would be
like no other, and it all began once I combed through the mail.
In a regulation sized, security envelope, I
received a letter from the Law Firm of
Jacoby and Meyers. With my heart
beginning to race ever so slightly, I began to open the perforations of this
fancy envelope to reveal a letter. The letter basically claimed that I was
being
sued for medical damages incurred from a slip and fall accident at the
following address: 34 Fulton St. A legal assistant from the firm signed the
heavily bonded paper. I was tempted to contact this hump, but I decided to wait
a couple of days.
I had no idea as to who the person was or what
staircase they slipped on. The address rang no bells. So my curiosity was
stronger than a newborn baby’s grip on a finger, more stronger than a Ben
Wallace rejection, more stronger than…you get the idea, Grace and I went for a
ride.
Upon entering the establishment, I had to look at the waitress from her neck up
when I asked her if this was
34 Fulton St and she agreed with a smile. I wish I
had a bible tract in my pocket. The place reeked of smoke and music was
blaring. Prior to entering 34 Fulton St, I had no idea I would be entering a strip
joint. Yes, I admit it;
I accidentally entered a strip joint, while my wife of
2 years was double parked in our car. I immediately walked over to our car and
bent down on the street asking God to cleanse my eyes. Grace, never the type to over react, iterated that mistakes happen, but
also said, "don’t let this one happen again or its 95 South I'm headed".
Sleep was not my friend for the next few
weeks. I didn’t know where this whole thing came out from, until one morning.
I prayed the night before for some revelation from God.
I immediately woke up
telling Grace that we went to the wrong city. Frequently, you can find streets
that are named the same in adjacent cities. We were at the right address, but
wrong city. That was when my true recollection began.
FLASHBACK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We both toiled at the bookstore together for
close to a year. The pay was horrible and our work schedules were disruptive to
everything in our lives, friends, family and sleep. Jake was a born again
Christian, who just came from Nigeria. I became close to him because he was a
Christian and he was a good listener. After about a year, Jake quit the
bookstore after being persistently pressured to do so by our supervisors because
they were not enamored with his work ethic. I decided to work for about another
year at the store before I quit to work for a textile company on
Long Island. I
would frequently contact Jake, but it dwindled a little because of our hectic
work schedules.
One day, I received a
message from Jake
asking
me to call him back.
After I call him back, he tells me that he is buying a
property in Long Island and he needs someone to co-sign the loan. I was
22 at
the time; I was willing to help anyone out, especially a fellow Christian. I
agreed and signed so many documents that I needed a wrist bandage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
END
OF FLASHBACK
Back to the present time. When I woke up that
morning, I realized the letter confirmed my gravest theories: I was not just a
co-signor, but I was placed on the deed to a house and
34 Fulton St was this
address. One of my closest friends had deceived me.
I called my friend back and told him about the
letter I received, he told me he would take care of it. The medical claim was
later determined to be unsubstantiated. It was another person trying to make a
quick dollar and another firm that was chasing an ambulance. A few days later,
I called my friend and basically told him that I didn’t appreciate not being
told the entire truth. If I was going to be placed on the deed to the house,
I
wanted to know.
Sadly, I knew I had to terminate the friendship from that day on. I
see him every know and then, but we act as if we were
Ambassadors from India and Nigeria, diplomatic…
When I was a pre-teen, I remember watching a
Nature program with my father, locally on Channel 13. The program documented a
6-month interaction of a man who finds a
baby bear in the woods
while he was
hiking. He nursed the bear back to health and the cub accepted his nurturing.
I was happy for the bear, he had all he could eat, and he had the protection of
his handler. The program followed their interactions up until the
6th
month, in which the handler knew that this bear had to be set free.
He brings the cub out onto the field to play as
they always did. Little did the cub know that the handler had hid a bear trap in
the bushes. He encourages the cub to go near the trap, but not directly on it,
at which point he releases the locking mechanism to cause the
trap to close
merely inches
from the cubs nose. The cub ran faster than a marathon runner and
didn’t turn back. I wondered why he did such a cruel thing, but my father who
was an expert in bears and all other animals (he studies Nature programs),
revealed that the handler caused the bear to be wary of humans so that it
wouldn’t have problems in the future.
The bear trap and deed to the house
evoked similar emotions…
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