Personal Narrative: Jesus Martinez

Jesus Martinez

It was a Wednesday morning that I'll never forget. I had woken up at 3 in the morning because I had to be at a park for a physical fitness test. The test was not until 6 but because I was taking the bus, I had to make sure I was out of bed and out of the house early in the morning. The first few minutes of my commute were peaceful; there was light rain, birds chirping, the insect's low buzzing in the distance. It was just a normal morning. After I had gotten on the 85 bus that goes down Central to Jefferson Park I was a little groggy so I rested up against the heating compartment. The little designated area where you push a button and the heat comes on during the winter months so that commuters are not stuck out in the cold for too
long. Leaning against the compartment was my first mistake.
After several minutes of standing there alone waiting for my bus, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Naturally I pulled my phone out to look at whatever notification it could have been and to check the bus schedule. As I did this, I saw the outline of a man who appeared to almost walk past me before doing a quick turn to my front right side. Letting him take his position I made my second mistake. I quickly put away my phone into my pocket and the man began to speak. "Hey man I really need some help I have been sleeping here for a few weeks now and I really need the money to get on the train you think you could help me out with twenty bucks?" The man was dirty and made a big deal about how his shoes were all worn down but in reality they looked fine. "I would love to help but I don't carry cash on me sorry man" I said trying to dismiss the situation and get on with my day. I had other things to worry about like this test and whether or not I was going to pass. Or so I thought. The man tattoo on his face or possibly a bruise hell it could even have been dust slowly began to reach and grasp at his front pockets of his pants and then slid his hand into his hoodie and pointed something at me. "You don't
understand do you? I need thirty bucks to get on the train and meet up with my mom in aurora. You know where that is?" At this point I didn't care much for his conversation. I knew what was going on, and I wasn't about to take my chances with whatever he had in his pockets. Had I known for sure that he had a knife in his pocket I would have taken my chance and fought but for all I knew it could've been anything. For a split second that morning my mind went back to Clint Eastwood and his line as Dirty Harry "do I feel lucky?" Unfortunately the way the man had positioned himself and given the circumstances, I didn't feel that Lady Luck had even glanced at me that morning. "If you don't have cash there's an ATM over there. Lets go get forty dollars out." The guy pointed me in the direction of the ATM and I had no other choice with him having one dirty arm around me the other in his pocket. I put my card in the ATM, I withdrew the money and took my card out. He made a big deal about not looking at my pin number as if he wasn't already robbing me but he took the money and I was on my way. I took the bus over to Montrose field that morning and completed the physical fitness test. I'm pretty sure that the biggest reason I passed was the adrenaline still flowing through my body.