Go figure.
Moving on, I wasn't making any money at that job anyways so good riddance!
Before getting axed, however, I did make a few friends; friends who've helped me out with extra work. Enter Brian: When we met, I was a noob meter changer and I was assigned to him so that he could show me the ropes. When he learned that I was into mixed martial arts and UFC, he offered to put me into a part time gig working security with him on the weekends at a place called the Transit Lounge. I worked one uneventful night at the club, and didn't get called in again for about two months. As soon as I was fired, Brian brought my name up again and, luckily, one of the other security guards wanted to take a night off.
Perfect!
Fast-forward to last Saturday, 9pm. The club is divided into three sections: the bar (where the majority of the people hang out), the lounge (where they serve food), and behind the building there's an open space with another bar and a stage that usually has either a DJ or live bands performing. I started the night off watching the door to the lounge area. The lounge area hardly ever has trouble, nor does it have as much traffic as the other two areas. After burning holes into a few a guys from a distance who seemed to be making a few ladies uncomfortable but eventually left before getting out of hand, I became bored and switched with the guy guarding the front door.
Turns out watching the door to a club really isn't so hard. A young couple tried to come in without ID's. The poor kids said they both forgot them back at the apartment. When I let them know I wasn't going to let them in without an ID the guy instantly pulled out his Blackberry and started texting away furiously as if he was going to remedy the situation. The mop headed punk refused to leave the door and seemed to be expecting a miracle at any moment.
"Look, there's someone inside who's waiting for us. Can we just go get him?" he asked me.
I thought about it for a second. Most people who don't see the bigger picture would simply say NO. However, I'm always looking at the bigger picture. If I let someone in temporarily who isn't supposed to be there, I'm setting myself up for being able to kick them out later!
"Sure man, you can go in and look for your friend..." I replied.
"Oh my God, thank you so much!" the emo kid said to me.
"...your girl has to stay outside though."
And it's colder than fuck out tonight!
The couple looked at each other like they were on Double Dare and they had just accepted the physical challenge.
Fast-forward 10 minutes later: I was on the prowl of a hunt that I set up for myself. Moving through the mob of people getting down to the featured band of the night, Suenalo!, I found the kid looking helplessly lost in the crowd, cell phone still in hand.
"Alright bro, time's up, let's go."
"Oh, hold on a sec, I just-"
"I said time's up, it doesn't take this long to find someone in this club it isn't that big. Come on"
I just did FORESHADOWING!!
I escorted the kid back to the front of the club, content with my small victory. When I got to the door, the other security guards were there, Kevin and Dennis. I had left Dennis watching the door while I went looking for mop head. One of the customers was telling Kevin something but I could barely hear it over the music. I did, however, hear the last part of his statement: "... and I think they're coked out of their minds!"
Kevin took off to the backyard area of the club without another word. I followed closely behind to back him up in dealing with the coke heads. As we stood in the threshold leading into the back of the club, we didn't take long to spot the drug addicts. A couple was dancing (and I use the term in the loosest way possible) by a table, their clothes not exactly dirty but it didn't seem like they had washed it in about a year either. It looked almost powdered and stale. The woman's hair matched her clothes, puffy, frizzed, and dirty. Their skin looked as if it hadn't been exposed to sunlight in months. The woman was dancing with one of those tote bags that you get at the grocery store for about $10 dangling from her shoulder.
We made our way to the couple. I had only heard the end of the guy's statement so I was looking for a crack pipe to incriminate them with and kick them out of the club. Kevin, however, was looking for something entirely different.
And what I was about to see was going to blow my mind away. I had never seen anything like it before.
"Ma'am," Kevin started, "may I see what's in the bag?"
The woman, in a very matter-of-fact tone, replied, "Sure, help yourself."
When Kevin removed the towel covering the top of the tote bag, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"HOLY SHIT LADY IS THAT A FUCKING BABY!?!?" I shouted.
The two month old infant moved his head, obliterating any doubt in my mind that it might have been a doll.
"Yeah, so?" she said.
"LADY..." I repeated, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING DANCING WITH A BABY IN THE BAG!?!?"
The man chimed in, "We wanted to bring it to the club. We we're gonna leave it at home..."
Well at least they're responsible crack heads I guess.
Kevin darted off to grab his cellphone. I followed closely behind and set myself up as a barricade at the threshold and only exit out of the back and into the club. The woman, obviously sensing that she was fucked, grabbed her bag baby and swung it around her shoulder very much in the same way a 5th grader would swing his back pack on at the end of the school day. When she reached me, she started to beg me to let her go.
"Come on, man! I'm leaving! Just let me go, man!"
"Lady, you're not going anywhere until the police get here."
Buying the cops about 30 seconds, the woman began to get desperate and started swinging the baby at me, almost dropping it on several occasions and almost hitting the railing of the stairs leading up to the club with it. Obligated to move for the sake of the baby, I moved away and let her barrel through.
"Kevin," I radioed in, "this bitch is swinging her baby around and is putting it in direct danger. I'm following her out but I need you out here with that cellphone so we can get the cops out here to stop her."
Grabbing her and holding her back every chance I got before sensing that she was getting too desperate, I bought enough time for Kevin to catch up with us half a block down the street and away from the club.
"Mike! Let her go, man! We're out of the club we have no authority out here!" Kevin shouted to me.
"SHE'S GOT A FUCKING BABY IN THE BAG, BRO!" I shouted back.
He was right though. If trying to wrestle the baby out of her possession ended up hurting the baby in anyway and we weren't even in the club I would have been in a real shit storm.
I let her go and we followed her to her car where Kevin was on the phone with 911 and giving them a description of her vehicle.
The driver's side door didn't open and she had to crawl in through the passenger's side. Imagine that you go to the grocery store and only buy one bag's worth of groceries. You're not going to be putting that bag in the back, you're going to toss it into the passenger's seat. This is the exact same way this woman tossed this baby into the car. She tossed it into the driver's seat, crawled in from the passenger's side, and then wedged the baby between her leg and driver side door while she and her companion made their getaway.
I stood, helplessly watching as they drove away. Unsure of what else to do.
"Kevin... we could have done something man... we should have done something..." I said.
"We might have been able to have done something." he replied coolly.
The police showed up later on that night for a completely unrelated incident and said that there was no development in our case with the baby.
I've relived that incident over and over again in my head since its happened. I keep telling myself there was nothing else I could have done without compromising that child's safety but I just can't help but beat myself up. I was scared of the legal implications. Covering my own ass from the law was simply more important for me than that child's physical well being. I wanted to kick that lady in the stomach and rip that bag away from her, I wanted to stall her long enough for the police to arrive, and I wanted to save that baby from any further neglect, but all I did was file a fucking report with Miami PD and for that I'm ashamed. All I can do is admit than I'm human, that I wasn't sure what to do, and to hope that next time I have the balls to do what's right.
