Boston Bahhhstan

October 16, 2013

Boston Bahhhstan

When I was a child in Washington state we lived near the woods where there was an abandoned train rail. My brother and I loved walking on that train rail in the woods with our two dogs Sniffy and Gally because we could let them off their leashes and they would run like crazy and back and again into the woods. Those woods also had alleys and alleys of delicious berries that we could pick for hours during the summer. One other thing those woods had were coyotes. We rarely saw the coyotes but when we did they had seen us long before. We would get the sensation that we were being stared at and a spooky quiet would fall around the birds in the trees. Our dogs would stay protectively close and once we saw the coyotes we would leash our pups and calmly walk out of the forest. We knew if we ran we would be a good dinner for those wild dogs. They never chased us, they never hurt us, but they sure as heck gave us a deep sense of fear and that they could eat us if they wanted to.

This last weekend we went to Boston and went for a walk in a concrete jungle and met with city coyotes, otherwise known as drug dealers and drug addicts. It really shouldn't be the thing that lingers in my mind but it scared the pants off of me and back onto me. We arrived in the afternoon after a very long 4 hour car ride. Of course, we where happy with the peak fall foliage of reds and oranges so wanted to enjoy a brisk walk enjoying the leaves and beautiful city of Boston. We decided to set out towards Quincy Market, a good 4 miles from where we were staying. Along the way we turned down a wrong street and then the area started to look suspicious. Being the new New Yorkers that we are we didn't care about the sketchy looking people and kept walking...bad choice. Soon there were drug pushers, most of the people on the street had full arm and facial tattoos and there were the addicts twitching away. We stood out. We especially stood out because of my cherry red London Fog jacket that I had so happily bought at Marshall's in case it rained in chilly Boston. We were a clear target with our maps flapping around in the wind.

An addict walked up behind us and pulled on a ski mask completely covering his face. He followed us for a while and we were not sure what to do, slow down or speed up, so we walked together for a while in terror. We were in the midst of coyotes...

I'm glad that nothing happened. I had the same feeling I had as a girl walking in fake calmness away from coyotes. I felt like running, like screaming for police, like climbing up my poor husband. Essentially I felt like Stanely and he like Olley from Laurel and Hardy. He kept squeezing my hand meaning "Shut up and walk like you are happy on the French riviera." And I kept squeezing back saying, "WE ARE GOING TO DIE." We didn't die.

The rest of Boston passed like a haze. First it was the scare then it was the mouse. I was so shaken by the ski mask guy that walking down Quincy Market, the historic district and the beautiful garden of Boston Commons felt like a prelude to what I was really looking forward to: locking myself up in my hotel room to take a breath and feel ok.

As we got back into the hotel room I saw a little squeak and tail nervously run under our bed. Great, a fricking mouse, I thought. Where are my cats when I actually need one? When I complained to the front desk they were apparently aware of mice inhabiting the hotel. We switched rooms but it didn't make much of a difference since the Inn at Longwood Medical staff confirmed that there were mice everywhere. I couldn't believe that this hotel could have a mouse problem especially because it is the hotel for all the families of patients at the surrounding hospitals. (It is between Harvard Medical School and an array of specialty hospitals) There are 5 hospitals and this one hotel. If any hotel needed to be clean and sterile it should have been this hotel, but it was filthy and had mice. Mice! There was one young family we saw frequently with a newborn and a toddler. The parents were fatigued and hand an infant in the hospital. They were taking mice germs to see their child. There was an elderly couple where the gentleman needed surgery, he was taking rodent bacteria with him to bed. Unbelievable.

The rest of Boston passed in a haze. I couldn't take it in and brush off the sadness I had seen. People making themselves ill with drugs and the hotel that didn't care enough about the health of patients to be clean. I was happy to come home to my tiny house, to my own towels, the boring little town we live in where the worst crime is a kid cursing. My heart goes out to the people I ran into in Boston and I hope they all recover from their illnesses and the drug addicts from their demons.

Here are some pictures of the nicer parts of the weekend.