Had to swing through Brooklyn Center today to continue my DMV adventure. Managed to get my replacement title printed out on the spot, so I’m good to go to sell the truck as soon as things calm down.
Because I was early and needed a few things, I tried to swing by the Walmart out there. There were maybe ten cars in the lot. Plus four police cruisers and their occupants guarding the main entrance. I stopped to see what was going on, and before I could even get out of the truck one of them yelled “store’s closed!” at me. OK, so much for Walmart. There’s a rumor floating around that they’d been hit by protesters last night, so this wasn’t entirely unexpected.
No problem. There’s a Cub maybe a mile or two away. On the way there, there were another four squad cars at a bus stop with their lights on, and the cops were talking to the people there. Nobody was in cuffs that I could see, but the posture was definitely “we come in peace. Shoot to kill.” Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and thank gorram Elvis I got out 20-odd years ago.
Get to Cub and there were no cops, but the doors were locked and barricaded with carts and garbage cans.
People were being friendly but on edge everywhere I went. It felt like 52-C1 right before the gangbangers would pull something especially awful at 3AM right after my on-site backup evaporated and the nearest roamer was 20+ minutes away.
Yeah, I’ll be staying home tonight.
Stay safe, everyone. I have a feeling things are going to get ugly again.