I'll never forget April 1, 2014. It was a gorgeous day. The skies were clear and blue. The air warm but crisp with a steady breeze. I'd spent the morning with my college roommate - Michelle. She lives in Santa Monica, and we drove her gorgeous Audi convertible through the Pacific Coast Highway, top down, tunes blaring to Malibu - ('boo' is what the locals call it) for a hike in a canyon. The air smelled of mountain sage, and I picked some, rubbing it between my fingers.
She dropped me at the hotel around noon. I'd exchange a few dresses at Forever 21 on the promenade, grab some lunch and shower before she picked me up at 2. We were driving to Silver Lake that afternoon for drinks with another friend from college, Gary. :)
The elevator took me to the 4th floor and I grabbed my bags and receipts for Forever 21. My stomach was rumbling. We'd had a lot of wine, champagne, beer and smoke the night before. Belly laughs too. Michelle found a dvd of video from college. She studied television production at WKU. Her friends and roommates appeared in several projects and she'd carry around her 10 lb. camera to parties and the infield just for fun. We laughed for hours.
Anyway, I'd need to return these dresses and get something to eat quickly if I were to be showered and ready to go again at two. I grabbed my purse and glasses, closed the door to room 404, and proceeded to the 3rd street Promenade. It was right around the corner. The Ocean View, where we were staying, was on Ocean. I'd turn left on Broadway and walk 3 blocks to Third St. The Promenade was quickly recognizable with ivy dinosaur fountains spraying streams into wishing wells.
It was a gorgeous day. I was walking briskly. Just passed the Nordstrom's on the corner of 2nd and Broadway, Thai Dishes and the Ale House on my right. That's when I noticed something in the sky. Something that wasn't supposed to be there. Something large on the wrong side of a building. It was going over! Was some one throwing a large trash bag over their balcony?? I stopped and stared. He hit the pavement. It wasn't trash. It was a man. He was on the pavement, face down, arms and legs splayed like the letter X. Still.
OMG. OMG. OMG. Did that just happen?? Did anyone else around me see that?!? There were loads of people walking up and down Broadway. Surely one of them looked into that alley way. I stood frozen, talking to a young man looking at me. OMG. Someone just jumped from a building. I heard myself say. Did you see it? he asked. Yes. Have you called 911? I fumbled for my phone. I began walking through the alley, closer to the man. He still had not moved. On the other side of the alley, a woman in a red shirt with a large bosom and black hair in a pony tail ran towards the man. A man, maybe her husband, walked swiftly behind her, encouraging her to not go any farther. Some people had gathered on a balcony to my left. I'd later learn they worked in an office building next door. A young girl heard his body hit the pavement. Her eyes were filled with tears and she stood with her arms crossed, mouth open, eyes wide. I wish'd I'd gotten her number or name. She stood next to me. "Is he dead?" she asked. I'd heard a firefighter say, he's no longer with us. "Yes", I told her. He hadn't moved since we'd been there. Nothing. I'd watched as a police officer rolled his body to see his face. That was the first time I'd seen blood. It trickled from his long bald forehead down his face.
The phone rang 3 times before the operator answered. "911. What's your emergency?" "My name is Ann Douglas" I heard myself report. My voice quivered. "I just saw a man jump from a building". "What's your location?" There was a new energy in her voice. I looked up and there was a number on the back of the building! So thankful!! "1447" I said. We're in an alley. Behind Jinky's.
The operator asked me what I saw, what I heard, was there yelling? Did it appear to be a confrontation? No. He just fell from the sky. "I thought someone was throwing out trash," I heard my voice quiver. The operator took my name, address, phone number and asked me if I wanted to talk to someone, needed to talk with them. Please take down this number, she urged. Do you have a pen?
I took down the number on a weed card someone handed me on Venice Beach the day before. I used the pen I'd lifted from a bar on Venice Beach after a couple glasses of champagne and an order of nachos.
When will they be here? I asked. Any minute, she said, and to my left, a black and white police car was silently pulling up the alley way. They are here. I reported. So thankful to see the men in uniform!! :)
