About 20-30 other people came out and gathered in the streets to watch the display. At street level, my line of sight was blocked by apartment and office buildings, but I could hear all the booms speeding up. I'd gotten out a little late, and just had time to take a few photos as I was waiting for the elevator. When I got out the door, I could see the fireworks going off up at the parking lot of the Shiroyama Hotel at the top of Shiroyama hill. Tuesday night, I was just preparing to go outside at 6:30 PM for a 7 PM lesson when I heard a lot of bangs outside. I couldn't tell if the guy on the stretcher had been hit by the car, or if he'd been driving the car and blacked out or something. I couldn't see any broken glass or blood, but a couple cops were interviewing someone and taking notes.
Along the sidewalk, about 6 people stood around and just watched the action. A few feet farther along the street was a car parked with one wheel up on the curb. Near the front of the patrol car were two paramedics kneeling in the street and strapping an older guy into a stretcher. As I got off the street car at the Takamibaba stop, I noticed a police car at the opposite side of the street. 18, I was returning from Minami Kagoshima. You can click on the link to read that story. Two years ago, I wrote Small Adventure 57, about an old man that apparently passed out on the sidewark near Amu Plaza. When I returned to the area an hour later, everyone was gone and it looked to be back to normal. I didn't stick around to find out what would happen at the end. Every time someone tried to get her to stand up and go back to the clinic, she'd start squealing and try to hide her head in the gutter again. She wore a short dirty pink pajama top over an adult diaper, and no shoes or socks. She had straggly short gray hair and spindly arms and legs. She might have been in her late fifties, or as old as her seventies. A little behind them, about 3 feet from the sidewalk, was an old woman lying face down in the gutter that ran between the building and the parking lot. At this time, one of the employees from the bike shop, and two women from the clinic were standing by the corner of the building, trying to figure out what to do next. The building housed a motorcycle shop, and farther down the street was a clinic that apparently specialized in senior care.
At the intersection, kitty-corner, was a building next to a small parking lot at the corner. Close to a year ago, I was walking along a street when I heard a strange squealing.