I saw them flagging me down on a strange block to hail a cab – midway between Broadway and Vallejo on Fillmore, almost at the top of that steep three block stretch between Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights. They came up to the window instead of just hopping in the back when I stopped, so I rolled it down.
Here comes a story, I thought.
“We just got robbed,” one of them said, the fear in her voice evident. “Can you please take us to Pacific and Buchanan?”
I told them to get in.
They did, hysterical with fear.
“He had a gun, he had a gun, he had a gun,” one of them chanted.
“I grew up in El Salvador,” the other one said. “And that’s the only other place I been robbed at gunpoint.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s over. You’re in a taxi on your way home. You’re safe.”
“This is the Marina,” she said. “That stuff isn’t supposed to happen here. Oh my god, he stuck a gun in my face and took my bag. Can we even get into the house?”
“He got everything but my keys,” the other one said. “I still had ‘em in my pocket.”
“Thank God,” she said. “When I gave him my bag, he got my keys – along with my phone, my wallet, my credit cards, my fucking makeup.”
“So what happened?” I asked.
“We were walking down Vallejo Street and a white car pulled up a little ways in front of us and a big black guy appeared on the sidewalk. We didn’t really think much of it until we got closer when he pulled out a gun and told us to give everything we had. I handed him my purse and then he asked for my wallet and I said ‘It’s in the bag, asshole.’ And then he raised his gun at me while he looked in it.”
“It was so scary,” the other one chimed in. “Then he asked for my bag and I gave it to him.”
“And then he saw my engagement ring and stepped closer to me with the gun and told me to take it off.”
“I’m glad you did,” the other one said. “He was scary.”
“I know, but… it’s my ring, you know? But once he had that, he ran back to the car and sped off.”
“Well I hope you report it,” I said. “The first thing you should do when you get inside is call the cops and fill out a police report. They probably won’t catch them, I mean – this kind of thing happens all the time. But you still want to report it so that if they do eventually catch someone robbing someone else that there’s a chance you could identify them.”
“Thank you,” she said as the taxi came to a stop. “Let me go upstairs and get you some money.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You just got robbed and I took you four blocks – it’s no big deal.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Thank you,” she said, sticking her face up between the seats and giving me a big kiss on the cheek. “You’re my hero.”
“De nada,” I said blushing. “Just another day in the life.”
They got out and walked up to a huge house set back from the street and as soon as they were in the door, I hit the gas.
