What the Night Sky and I Saw...

img credit: Solar ikon

I'm a real late sleeper.


Late last night, around 2am, I heard some voices behind my building. I looked out and saw 2 men holding a man down. I initially thought it might be plain-clothes policemen but it didn't take long for me to ascertain that it wasn't. The 2 men looked like they were trying to take something off him and he was really trying to stop them from doing that.

I called 999.

They were hitting him in the face.

I was trying to explain to the operator what was going on. And I don’t think I was doing a good job of it.

Eventually, one man left.

The other followed.

And the man on the floor stayed there for a while.

He was conscious.

I could see that he was.

A woman approached him – she was on the phone – and said something to him. I imagined – or hoped - that she was asking him if he was ok.

She walked away.

He stayed. On the floor.

The operator asked me if he looked like he needed an ambulance.

I didn't know. Couldn’t tell.

I opened the window and asked him.

He said no, got up and walked away.

The operator asked me what the men looked like. To describe them.

I said one was black …one was white. And the other, I couldn't remember.

I felt stupid.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember more. "He had on a black jacket" "I think" "His hair was short"

"How short?", the operator asked me.

"Short", I said.


"What did the woman look like?"

I told her what I could remember. Which was little.


She thanked me for the call.


I could see two wet patches on the ground where the fracas had taken place. Wasn't sure if it was blood but I suspect it was.


Later on, during the day, I looked out my window. And sure enough, it was.


As I walked down the road, on a white boarded-up area close to where I live, I noticed 5 thick lines of bloody prints that his fingers had left.

I could see small drops of blood on the pavement – trailing along every now and then like bread crumbs.


A week ago, someone sprayed 'Free Palestine' in blue on the other side of the same white board and the following day, it had been removed as quickly as it had appeared.


I wonder how long the bloody prints will stay there.