We stood around waiting for the ambulance to arrive and within a short space of time we had a whole crowd of people standing around looking and asking what had happened. In this time a police patrol vehicle had appeared as well as a traffic unit which was now blocking access to this part of the promenade. The whole thing was now creating a small scene and the woman who had been assaulted was now sitting on the pavement – with a blanket around her whilst we were still waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The woman was in her late forties and we heard that her name was Mairi – she had been walking along the waterfront when two youths had attacked her for seemingly no reason at all. She said they had been acting strangely and had followed her for a short while before trying to snatch her handbag – when she had held onto it one of the youth’s had started battering her. And that was when we had arrived on the scene and John had jumped off his bicycle to assist her and ward off the two youths. A police constable came across to us to take our statements and whilst he was doing so the ambulance arrived. As the first aid staff helped Mairi to the ambulance she insisted in coming across to us and shaking John’s hand – she asked us what our names were and then allowed herself to be guided into the back of the ambulance. In not time the ambulance left, we gave our statements and the crowd dispersed. The police had taken our names and addresses and informed us that they might be contacting us in the future to assist with the enquiry.
We realised that we did not have much time left as we hurried back to the ferry terminal and in fact were only just in time to board the Caledonian Macbrae ferry ‘Isle of Mull’ before is set sail for Craignure. We sat on deck basking in the sunshine looking back towards the shore as we sailed out of harbour. We hadn’t had much time to discuss what had just happened and I turned to John and said that he could have been hurt he shrugged and said that he wasn’t prepared to stand by as the woman was assaulted. The police had also thanked him for his intervention and had shared with us that this was becoming an all too regular occurrence especially on the waterfront with tourists and visitors to Oban being targeted. The officer had said that they were becoming more and more brazen and were now not afraid to attack tourists in front of other people in the middle of the day.
It was strange how fast it had all happened as they had ridden along the waterfront – one minute admiring the view and the next finding themselves caught up in the whole event. John had never previously expressed much of an opinion about crime and I had not really thought that I would become involved in anything preferring to probably just mind my own business and avoid anything like that – sometimes though you are just thrown into something and this is what had happened with us here – no prior warning and then in the middle of something. I wasn’t sorry we had helped in fact I felt quite proud of john and how he had instinctively reacted and went to the woman’s assistance. I somehow felt reassured by the whole incident a sort of an unwritten confirmation in who I thought John was. A living testimony to some sort of higher ideal for which we all strive.
We sat around chatting and planning the rest of our day and discussing our timetable. We were about half way across when John asked if I would like a cup of coffee or hot chocolate – knowing full well that I would never willingly turn down an offer of a cup of my favourite hot chocolate. He walked off leaving me on deck basking in the sun. I was sitting there for a while when I had the distinct impression that I was being watched – I can’t really explain the sensation but it was just some sort of sixth sense – I turned around and in the far corner I caught sight of someone with a hood on turning away and then hurrying off towards the stairs – he proceeded to go down the stairs and disappeared from sight. I don’t know why but I was feeling distinctly uncomfortable and was a bit upset by the time John returned – he in turn seemed to sense something was wrong and when I told him – he insisted that we walk across to the stairs. We looked around but couldn’t see anyone that resembled the person I had seen. There were a group of youths on the benches at the foot of the stairs fooling around as kids do but no sign of the boy I had caught sight of. We turned around and were walking away when I was hit on the shoulder by a small orange or mandarin – I spun around but the kids all looked as if the were still fooling around and we couldn’t see anyone who had obviously thrown it. We decided to leave it and walked back to where we had been sitting – but this time keeping a wary eye on our backs as we were not going to allow it to happen a second time. One youth wh seemed to be slightly bigger and older than the other kids seemed to be just sitting there and smiling in a half mocking way – almost as if he was laughing specifically at us. Of course it could just have been my imagination but something about him bothered me. When we were safely back in our seats I mentioned this to Johan and said that he had noticed him as well but that he had also thought that after the events of earlier on his imagination was running away with itself. He said that he had found it quite strange and co-incidental that both of us noticed this same boy. So much so that he decided to go and take a photo of this boy – with his digital camera – he told nme to stay there and he walked around to the far end of the deck to approach from another angle. I kept a nervous watch over him as he circled around appearing to be taking random photos of the scenery of Mull as we sailed towards our destination. I saw him pause and even at this distance I could see him tense up as if he had seen something that had shocked him or that he really did not believe that he was going to see.
When he came back to me – he said you’ll never believe who our smiling pawpaw was talking to. I said I had no idea and then he told me that he wasn’t completely certain but that he thinks that it is one of the boys that attacked that woman – one of the boys that he had chased off this morning and what’s more he was wearing a grey hooded tracksuit top which would be or could be the same person that I had noticed watching me earlier on.
No comments:
Post a Comment