The young woman in the red sundress is gorgeous.

[August 15th, 2007] The young woman in the red sundress is gorgeous. She also has a huge bruise and a thin trickle of blood on her cheek, and is standing plaintively in the Safeway parking lot at Southeast 122nd and Powell at 3 am on a Friday night. Somebody’s punched this woman very hard, and my blood is boiling.

She gives me a nearby address. As I drive, it comes out that we’re on the way to her boyfriend’s apartment to pick up her purse. I tell her that this is an extremely bad idea, that I’ll happily give her a free ride absolutely anywhere, she shouldn’t be worried about getting her purse to pay me. She insists that she needs her keys, and against all better judgment, I acquiesce.

We pull into the parking lot, and

the boyfriend’s waiting. I note with some satisfaction that his face looks a lot worse than hers, and stand by with clenched fists as she negotiates the release of the purse. We get rolling again, and she tells me about how he’d wanted her to fuck another guy while he watched. She’d refused, he’d punched her, she’d punched him back. Only she was wearing a big ring.

After a few minutes, she asks if there’s a white 4-Runner behind us. There is, and she has me make some quick turns. We lose it, and I get her to her parents’ place. I give her my contact information in case she decides to press charges, but never hear back.