a woman lying in the street, not able to breath
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Toronto, 2014.01.04
About a month ago, I was arriving at my street at the end of my nightly cycle commute when I noticed a woman lying in the street.
She was conscious, and on the phone, but when I heard her say, "I can't breath" I brought my bike around and told her, "Do you need help?"
She repeated that she couldn't breath, but waved me away as she clambered to her feet. She said something into the phone and it sounded accusatory. "I have an inhaler," I told her, and she packed up her backpack and other stuff from the street and walked away. The tone of her conversation was really pretty unpleasant.
I'm hoping that it was just a break-up playing out on the phone. I guess?