The Greatest Story Never Told

Chapter 10 - Near Death Experience

In the summer of 1977 I was almost killed by someone. A total stranger. I was working at the toy store that I mentioned awhile back. I was doing stockboy work at the time. Due to it being summer my boss decided that since there was so much street traffic, the store could benefit from putting product outside the store, making for tons of easy sales. I was assigned security for all the stuff being sold out there. Beach balls, balloons, candy, wind up toys, endless toy store stuff. There I was, standing there, in the summer sun keeping a watchful eye on things. People brought stuff, paid me, and I brought the money to the register as quick as possible to get back to my post.

In the midst of the sales action, two roof workers came into the crowd of shoppers. They were latino men, wearing their work clothes which had tar all over the place. They had their work bags filled with their roofing tools. Music played in the background from the passing cars and some of the stores. It was a typical shopping day on the avenue. The two men, in their late 20's or early 30's stopped and began picking things up and putting things down. All was normal. Then, one of them pocketed a few candy bars. I walked over and approached them. I said, ' I saw that, you gotta put it back.' He then turned to me, reeking of alcohol, and said, ' What are you talking about, I aint got nothing.' I let him know that he did take the candy bars, and insisted he either pay for them or put them back. He turned to his friend, and mumbled something in Spanish and punched me in the face. I was stunned and suprized. I wasn't expecting that.

A fight erupted between him and I, soon I was fighting both men. I was losing. I was out numbered, and they were grown men who were also fueled by alcohol. The customers started scrambling to get out of the way. Then, as I fell back onto a parked car with both men on top of me, I saw it. A dirty, rusty, tar covered bayonet. As I looked at it, he held it high in the air, with the blue sky above and the clouds drifting by, there was a moment of utter serenity. As I write this recollection I have goosebumps. It was this near death moment that left me believing that there is truly 'another side.' As the knife was coming down in slow motion, the sounds around me became very muffled, and I saw something that I will never forget. Right before my eyes was my tombstone. It was dark grey, with my full given name, my date of birth, and the day of my death, which was that very same day! I was going to die...

As the blade was on it's final downward plunge, I became accepting of my death. My chest was wide open, ready to take the knife, too tired to fight anymore against two men. My fate was sealed. In retrospect, I believe that Sally wasn't ready for me to die. Angels move people on Earth. Just as the knife was 6-7 inches from ending me, a dented old and beat up garbage can slowly crept into my field of vision. It was all is slow motion now. It flew across the blue sky and miraculousy hit the knife, knocking it out of my assailant's hand. It turned out that my homeboy DJ-Rican, a DJ that I was close to was riding his bike down the avenue and saw what was happening. He had jumped off of his bike, grabbed the can and flung it. Had he missed, I'd be dead. His throw, and Sally's guidance has me still breathing today. I would have been dead at twenty-one, and my son Kareem would never had been born. I owe Rican my life, and I continue to search the internet today in search of Rican.