About a month ago, I was the victim of serious verbal abuse from what turns out to be a local lost cause in the making. Police were called; nothing happened; I had mostly put it out of my mind. Until an odd coincidence.
The story started on a ride home on a Friday afternoon. Riding down Rose Hill Drive, through one of Charlottesville's many examples of crappy bike planning, I got the popular honk and engine rev from the driver of a white SUV. As usual, I noted the license plate, an easy to remember "2 BAB", and carried on.
Sure enough, as I was passing by Walker Upper Elementary, there was the SUV (remember the license plate? Not too hard, that one.) I gave the driver a good look and kept on riding. A minute later at 4-way stop by the whale tail, I realized the SUV was following me, and the driver, a young, fat punk starts with the usual epithets: "Fuck off, faggot." etc., etc. And I wasn't even wearing lycra (at that point in time).
Until then, I had chalked up the episode to the typical idiocy, but when I get treated as such, I don't have much trouble letting people know that their behavior is unacceptable. So I rode back over to Walker, where the SUV was again parked. It turns out the kid was there to help his father fix a second vehicle.
So I rode by, loudly repeating the license plate and was met with the usual taunts of "Come back, asshole!"
So, I did.
Then it was father's turn to unleash on me. I questioned their motivation for a while but finally decided to leave after Senior came at me with clenched fists for the second time. (Ironically, Junior whined at one point about me making a gesture at him "back there on Rose Hill" -- had the Neanderthals been willing to listen, they could have learned that it's easier to look behind you when you take your arm off the handlebar -- too bad they were busy trying to get in a fight.)
The police were called, story relayed, but I never heard back as to the results of the visit the police said they were going to make.
Now, cut to a few days ago, when a young Barry Booth was arrested in connection with an assault on the corner. I thought I recognized the face, and a quick web search showed not only a budding rap sheet, but also a connection to Barry A. Booth (aka, "BAB"), presumably the patriarch of the family.
I'm sure Pa is so proud...
Reminds me of the time a young woman around the corner was shot and killed in her home, by strangers, for her laptop and her car. Just knocked on the door and killed her. "Those mug shots look familiar...." Losers who used to hang around after hours with other losers at a small factory I worked at, also around the corner. Gives you shivers. Glad your altercation didn't get physical.
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