Profile of an aggressor
"Give me your fucking money!” He swayed slightly as he brandished what looked like a blade, but may have just been a bottle cap. It was hard to distinguish at one o’clock in the morning and I wasn’t keen to get a closer look.
As I backed away, I heard a screech of brakes as a taxi dramatically reversed around the plaza. Before I could say “Dukes of Hazard,” the door was flung open.
Unlike the TV stars, I bundled myself rather ungracefully onto the back seat and slammed the door shut behind me. With another squeal of brakes, we headed off as my assailant launched an angry kick at the already battered door.
As I settled into my seat, I looked thankfully towards my rescuers, a taxi driver and a female passenger. They ignored me and continued chatting amiably about problems at her work as if rescuing gringos from drug-crazed robbers was a daily occurrence.
Strangely I found myself laughing and had to stop myself so I didn’t sound deranged to my rescuers. I had suddenly looked back at the evening and recalled why I was out so late. It was because I had ended up attending and helping out at a conference called “Profile of an aggressor
Unfortunately it hadn’t included the sound advice to call a radio cab at 1am instead of waiting for a taxi and to watch out for men in Plaza Colon who look like they are on drugs.
It had mainly consisted of a Freudian analyst explaining that people become aggressive because of problems in their relationships with their mother and some kind of problem (I didn’t quite catch what) with their willy.
In retrospect, perhaps I could have tried out the psychologist’s theories and prevented the attack by asking the man about his mother. I will try that out on another occasion. Meanwhile I can live with a heroic rescue from a nonchalant taxi driver.
Wow, what did the people in the taxi say why they pulled over? Was the Plaza Colon and el Prado empty?
The strange thing is that the taxi driver said nothing as if it was completely usual. Yep, the Prado and Plaza Colon are pretty empty on a weekday night (it’s another matter on the weekends)
From my experiences, most people don’t like to get involved because they too may become a victim. Maybe it’s a new craze in Cbba.
Nick,
Mum is not going to like that one! I think you must get some perverse pleasure in worrying mum!
The problem with email and blogs is that mum can find out what you are up to a day or even a few hours after it happens. When you were travelling round Asia, it was different as we got your mammoth letters a few months after, so it seemed more of a story than recent reality!
Anyway, take care and don’t put yourself in dangerous situations deliberately…
Tom/Bro