Jackie Danicki

I had a tutor training class today at The Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati for my volunteer gig. Their offices are located on what’s called West 7th Street. It’s not downtown (if it had been, I’d have been able to find it easily), but even further west. I wasn’t sure if I could walk there, as it looked on the map to be off highway-type roads - which sometimes don’t have sidewalks - so I got a bus as close as I (thought) I could and…Well, I got lost. REALLY lost.

That’s how I found myself wandering around a very industrial area of town at 8.30 this morning, freezing and getting increasingly panicked about making it to my class. I walked into what looked like a truck repair lot, where a man was hunched over an engine. He looked up.

“Do you know this area?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. Whatcha lookin’ for?”

“The intersection of West 7th Street and Gest Street. Am I close?”

He laughed. “Not even. Where’s your car?”

“I got the bus and have been walking around for fifteen minutes…”

“Oh, man! Come on, I’ll give you a ride up there. It’s kinda far.”

I KNOW! I would never, ever advise any woman to do what I did, but I felt totally safe and did not think I was taking a risk. As it turned out, he delivered me exactly where I needed to be (which was QUITE FAR from where I had encountered him) and refused to take any money for gas and his trouble.

During the course of the training day, I let slip about how I had made my way there that morning. Later, I overheard a group of other students in the class - all old enough to be my mother, quite educated and personable - whispering about it in worried voices. “It was really fine!” I insisted. “I promise I don’t ever do stuff like that, but he was fine!” One of them looked at me with a pained expression. “We’re moms. We have to worry about you!”

This was after one of them had given me the name, address, and phone number of her cousin who lives in Price Hill, the sort-of-rough area where I volunteer every Tuesday night. “She lives on the good side of Grand Avenue,” the woman assured me as she pressed the piece of paper into my hand. “I’ll tell her you have her information, and you must promise me you will call her or just stop by if you’re ever scared or stuck there. PROMISE ME.”

No fewer than five people offered me rides home. By this time, I’d figured out that I COULD have walked to the place from my apartment in about ten minutes. It was clear how easy it would be to hoof it home. No one would let me, though, “not in this cold”.

I really hate it when (most) men try to father me, but there is something about being mothered by other peoples’ moms that I quite easily give into.

NB It was a REALLY fun day! It’s been a long time since I’ve spent eight hours sitting in a classroom, but it passed all too quickly and with much laughter. I learned a lot and left feeling even more excited about what I’ve started. Who knows where it will lead…

Filed under: Life