On the home today I gassed up in the hood because I was almost on empty and the gas was just too cheap to pass up. Technically I was on the edge of the hood (dividing line train tracks in sight), as to stop at the gas station in the heart of the hood is literally to take your life if you hands (though there has been only one actual murder there, we did hear several shots on Monday evening as we sat quietly at home). The edge of the hood, on the hood side, is still the hood, but I figured it was safer.

Anyway, there is a (small) point to this story. I was standing there at the pump thinking vaguely of what I would do if I got car jacked (which has happened just across the street) especially since my child was there in the back seat. The makings of a Denzel Washington film. D.

So, these thoughts are running through my mind when a guy comes striding up to me with great vigor yelling "hey, hey." My heart leaped, as you might imagine. He was tugging at something in his waistband. I was thinking oh fuck, this can't actually be happening, how can this be happening?

Turns out he was a harmless dude with some porn dvds to sell me, stuck in his underwear waistband, whipped out with a flourish.

Curious on several levels-- perhaps first and foremost, why would I want to touch these things? And why sneak around and peddle porn at gas stations when it is sold all over the place, all the time?

There weren't any other takers at the station.