Curses!

I honestly did not know what picture to attach to this post.  While the title "Curses" could mean a lot of things, in this post it refers to the time when someone put a curse on me.  While at first that may sound ominous, in reality it all happened so fast that I barely had time to really absorb it.  Not until the curse came true and actually happened to me, did I take a moment to reflect on it .

I must have been about 19 because I was still training with my Field Training Officer who I will call "CB".  CB and I have remained close these last 30 years and communicate weekly.  Back when I was 19, I thought just as highly of him and was thrilled to have him as one of my mentors.  At this particular time we were on midnights, working patrol, District 3, downtown and west of downtown.  It was about midnight or thereabouts and we received a call of a disturbance at some apartments not far from the station.  Not the nicest of complexes, but a disturbance was not all that common at that location.  When we arrived we made contact with the caller and were told that their next-door neighbor was drunk and had been yelling and screaming at no one in particular just a short time before.  We knocked on the door to the neighbor's apartment and who should come to the door but an older gentleman in a pair of shorts and nothing else.  We recognized him as a past and frequent visitor of the City Jail who I will call "JJ".  JJ & CB went way back and they began talking about what was going on.  JJ was very obviously intoxicated as he answered our questions, and he was very agitated about having to do so.  He began complaining about being picked on and about how no one would leave him alone.  He was raving and ranting and acting pretty incoherently but up until this point he was still inside his apartment and he did not appear to be a danger to himself or anyone else.  He knew better than to come outside the apartment where he would be "in public" and could possibly be arrested for public intoxication.  After a few minutes he calmed down and assured us he was going to go to bed for the night and sleep it off.  This was agreeable to all parties, so we left in peace and cleared the call.

About 30 minutes later we received a 2nd disturbance call at the same location.  We arrived to find that JJ was now inside his next door neighbor's apartment and before he saw us, we witnessed him being very loud and aggressive, gesturing wildly and stumbling about the apartment.  When he saw us, he made a beeline for his apartment next door, but we latched on to him before he got there.  Although we tried to calm him down he was furious that we had "snuck up" on him and really became very belligerent.  He then became very threatening and finally we just had to make the decision to take him in.  As soon as he realized what we were doing, he stiffened up and would not bend his arms or legs.  CB and I had to carry him to the car after handcuffing him.  CB was very worried that we might accidentally hurt him because he said that JJ was probably close to 70 years old.  I could not believe this and looked at him again.  Sure enough, I saw the signs of age that I had not seen before and realized that we needed to be very careful.  As JJ saw me looking intently at him, he said, very calmly to me, "What you looking at girl---you ain't never seen a black man before?"  I assured him that I had and that I just wanted him to go along peacefully because we could not leave him there in his condition.  All of a sudden he calmed down and got very still and quiet.  He raised his hands to point toward me (we had handcuffed him in the front because it did not seem to be as strenuous on him) and I stepped back.  He looked very intently at me and said, "Just for this, I am going to put a curse on you."  I gasped and held my breath....I just did not know what to expect.  While many people might have just shoved him into the car, both CB and I were really kind of interested in what he had to say.  He had calmed down and was not fighting us, so I must of thought, "What the heck?"  As he stood there against the patrol car pointing both hands at me he lowered his voice and repeated directly to me, "I'm putting a curse on you girl" and I just stood there slack-jawed as I watched his whole face and demeanor change.  He continued, "From this day forward, all your babies ---- will be born naked."  WHAAAAATTT???  How dare he curse me and my babies!!!!  Then he and CB burst out laughing as I finally comprehended what he had actually said to me (I think CB had heard this line before).  As soon as he'd finished speaking, he climbed into the back of the patrol car and settled in for the short ride to jail.  Never gave us another problem.

From time to time over the years, I'd run across JJ, but never did I ever have another bit of trouble from him.  Several years later, when I had my first and only child, JJ's curse came to be.  Daniel Brett was born naked as a jaybird.  I'm sure glad that was the only thing JJ cursed me with---it sure could have been worse!