Photo by Isaac Benhesed on Unsplash
After a great breakfast at the Uptown Café, Ken and I headed to the car and as we buckled up, we noticed a couple arguing on the outside stairway of the apartment building in front of us. The woman was clearly angry and the guy kept backing up floor by floor as she moved toward him screaming and shaking her finger. “Were you drunk?” we heard her spit at him.
“Wow,” I said to Ken. “If only we had popcorn.”
We couldn’t hear everything clearly but his body language said, “Trapped, hung over and guilty as charged.” We figured he was trying to get to his apartment door and lock himself in ASAP.
“She’s gonna catch him,” Ken predicted as the woman lunged up a few steps, causing the guy to stumble backward in his haste to keep more space between them. “God damn you!” she swore. “My best girlfriend you lousy %^&^&*(()*??!!!!” That came over loud and clear.
“A dollar says she’ll make a grab for him next,” I bet Ken. He shook his head. “I’m betting the guy will turn and make a run for it at the next landing.” We shook on it. Surprisingly at the next landing he started forward toward her, but instead of retreating she moved suddenly toward him.
Let me pause here to say that if we thought either of these people was in physical danger from the other we would have called the cops. As it was, Ken and I were transfixed having seen our share of romantic confrontations over the years in bars where our band has played. We’re pretty good about reading the danger level of a situation and there was no real danger here. But, whew, hell hath no fury.
As the woman surged toward the guy, he slipped and set down hard on the landing behind him. In a flash she was standing over him emptying the rest of her ocean of anger, hurt and betrayal on him as he sat, head between his hands looking at his feet. At last she straightened up, turned and with shoulders back and chin held high marched down the steps and out of both his and our lives.
“I wouldn’t want to be her “best girlfriend” today,” I murmured to Ken as we drove away. He nodded. “That woman has a lot more to say,” he predicted.
Have you ever been part of the stunned audience viewing a heated, non-violent romantic confrontation? What emotion came into your mind? Embarrassment? Fear? Surprise? Admiration? Wonder? Drop a comment and let me know. You know I love hearing from you.
