i can’t tell you that i’ve grown up in any dangerous place.  not in the least.  i’ve led a very protected life.  but i still consider myself a city girl, comfortable in los angeles, nyc, london.  able to handle the busy streets and jostling of people, abrasive dispositions, bring it on!

in the sleepy, laid-back town of sante fe, it was the last place on earth that i thought i’d hear two gunshots fired outside of my bedroom window. 

it was not that late.  11pm.  i was watching "closer" on my laptop in bed.  i heard a couple of guys fighting outside.  i had the windows open to let in the cool, summer breeze.  expletives rushed through, but i brushed it off as a couple of guys with too much testosterone working out their frustrations.  i heard running.  i heard name calling. 

and then i heard a gun shot. 

and then i heard another.

i have never been so scared in my life.  the last time i was remotely this frantic was when i was 10.  living in anaheim in a condo when the night stalker was on the loose.  the crazed killer/rapist that was attacking beige homes in southern california. 

all these sense memories of that childhood fright came up.  it is amazing the things we store in our bodies with absolutely no awareness. 

i called the front desk when i overcame my paralysis.  no answer.  the longest 10 minutes of my life passed before the police came.  and all i could wonder was whether someone was hurt or dead lying in the alley next to my window.  the sirens were the sweetest sound. 

i had been ducking low in the room and walking to the phone to keep trying the front desk.  what if more shots came?

luckily none followed.  the police were downstairs for about an hour looking around in the night for clues i suppose.  when i finally got through to the front desk, they said no one was caught and no one was hurt that they could see.

but the panic would not let go.  it took me almost two hours to calm down.  have you ever heard gun shots mixed with anger and hatred?  within 10 feet of you?  how do people live like this?  and where does that type of anger come from that someone would think that shooting a man down in the middle of a street is an answer to his problems?

this morning i found out that the "kids" were arrested.  all i have to say is…gun control laws people.  not every moron on the street should be able to own one. 

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