This certainly isn't news to most people who know me. Most people learn of this in some passing conversation, and usually interrupt what I'm saying with "Whoa! Back it up. " If you've read the message boards at Beatbots for at least six months, I'm sure there's been some reference made by me or another member. In another time, I was a stick-up man. I'm not saying I was a great stick-up man, just that I was one. You can read my abbreviated story in Ted Rall's "Real Americans Admit: The Worst Thing I've Ever Done."
This story requires a little setup: I went to high school in Tangier, Morocco from 1979-82. In September, 1982, I began my first semester as York College of Pennsylvania and at the end of November, I dropped out and joined the U.S. Navy. About a month into basic training I had an epiphany: doing push ups really sucks. I broached the subject with my drill instructor and after berating me for about five minutes, he sent me off somewhere. About a month later I received a general discharge. At the time, my mother was still in Morocco (teaching at a different American school in Rabat), so I went back to Morocco for a couple of months. On March 1, I returned to Randallstown, MD (with 250 grams of hash).
While the hash was good, I had a second epiphany: Randallstown sucks. So after a week, I decided to take a trip up to Union College in Schenectady, NY to visit with a couple of guys I went to high school with. I packed a bag and, before heading out by bus, I took a gun that I knew my mother had kept for protection as she raised three children as a single parent. While I didn't really have a plan in using the gun, I did consider the possibility that I may have to use it to get money (I've never proclaimed to be an angel). So I packed that huge .38 Saturday Night Special in my bag and hit the road for Schenectady.
I arrived at Union College that evening and hooked up with my friends. I slept in their room for a few days as we smoked hash and had a good old time. After a few days, the hash wore out and I believe so did my welcome, so I packed my bag and decided to catch a bus to Rochester, where my mother's side of the family lives. When I got to the bus station in Schenectady, I found out that I didn't have enough cash for a ticket to Rochester. I bought a ticket to Utica instead.
While on the bus to Utica, I decided that I needed to rob something to get the cash for the rest of my trip north. When we arrived in Utica, I took my bag and went to the bathroom. I grabbed a stall, pulled the gun out, loaded it and stuck it in my jacket. Yeah, better said than done. The jacket I was wearing was a leather jacket of my older, but smaller, brother, so the jacket was a bit snug on me. The pockets were deep, but not very wide, so I ripped the pockets a little so I could get the gun into one. The gun barely fit in the pocket, but it was in. I took the rest of the shells and put them in the other jacket pocket. I put my bag in a locker and set out on foot to scout Utica.
I walked around for a few hours, ate a burger and fries at McDonalds and found myself standing across the street from a Mobile gas station with convenience store attached. I smoked a bowl, steeled my nerves and headed into the store when I saw no cars getting gas and no one inside the store, save for the cashier. I walked into the store, said hello to the clerk and walked to the back of the store. I grabbed a pint of chocolate milk and asked how much it was? I'm not sure which was odder, that I asked how much the chocolate milk was or that I bought it, because I've never much liked chocolate milk. But I bought it, said thanks and headed out the door. As soon as I got outside, I put my right hand in my jacket pocket and gripped the gun. I spun and walked back through the door and into the store. I threw the chocolate milk as a distraction, pulled the gun out of my pocket, shoved it in the cashier's face and said "Give me the money, bitch!"
Well, while that's pretty much how I planned it, it didn't actually go down like that. Instead, as I walked back into the store and started to
http://www.beatbots.com/board/YaBB.pl?num=1201300296/0
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2009/11/baltimore_taper_charged_with_a.html
http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/GCA00P00/WIQ3/WINQ130
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