A TERRIFYING EVENT

A TERRIFYING EVENT
C 2008 JoJo

In Rio de Janeiro, women do not go out into the streets on their own at night – not unless they have a death wish.

As most of you know, my Dad was an Anglican Priest. He was serving in Christ Church, located on Rua Real Grandeza in Rio – a beautiful stone faceted Church with large grounds. The Church was at the front of the property, with two narrow lanes on either side leading to the Vicarage at the back. I used to hate walking down them at night, because we had bats in our belfry and the little blighters would deliberately zoom just above my head. I was always scared one of them would miscalculate and fly into my hair. Perish the thought!

The Church property was surrounded by a high wrought iron fence, with a large gate leading into it. Dad found out that it had become the favoured spot for loving couples to copulate, so he put a large chain and padlock on the gate and it was closed at night (spoil sport).

One night I was going to be picked up by friends on the street, to go to a Bridge game (I started playing Bridge at the tender age of 10 and it remains as one of my favourite activities). I warned Dad that I’d be out and told him not to lock up the gate.

So I had a most enjoyable game of Bridge, and my friends drove me home and dropped me off at the gate. They didn’t wait to see me securely inside, but zoomed off.

I went to open the gate and to my horror, it was locked! Here I was at 1.00 a.m. out on the street, alone with absolutely no idea how to get out of this predicament.

But things got worse – much worse. A gang of street thugs came ambling down the street towards me. When they saw I was alone, they went into a huddle and were obviously planning on attacking me. I can honestly say I’ve never felt such terror in my entire life. My heart was beating so hard, it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, my throat was so dry I couldn’t swallow.

Slowly the thugs approached me, with leers plastered all over their faces, leaving me in no doubt as to their intentions. I honestly thought I was doomed.

But my Guardian Angel was working overtime on that early morning hour. A couple of armed cops turned the corner from the opposite direction of the thugs, and they took in the situation at a glance. The tableau was cops facing thugs, with me shivering in terror in the middle.

The thugs started whispering to each other, and I could hear them. There were so many of them, and only two cops – could they take the cops or not? Slowly, the cops undid their holsters and drew out their guns, holding them alongside their bodies.

I don’t know how long this face-off actually took, but to me it felt like an eternity, where my fate literally hung in the balance. Slowly the thugs decided I wasn’t worth the risk, so they turned and walked away.

The cops came up to me in a rage. “Are you crazy, girl, being out on the street alone at this time of the night?” they shrieked.

I burst into tears and explained that my father had forgotten to leave the gate open for me, and I couldn’t get into our property.

The cops immediately became sympathetic and patted me on the shoulder. They escorted to me a gas station down the road which thankfully was open all night, and I phoned home.

Then they escorted me back to the gate and waited until Dad turned up with the key and opened the gate.

Dad never apologized to me for having nearly had me raped and killed, due to his own carelessness. But then Dad never apologized for anything in his entire life!

I was truly lucky that day, and had those cops not come around the corner when they did, I wouldn’t be here to tell you of this terrifying event.