THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
HE WAS BIG and mad. And from the look of things, I had really angered him. If he had a gun, I would be dead. And if I had one . . . ditto (maybe).
What had I done?
I'd taken ``his'' parking space! Let me say it again in disbelief: I took his parking space! A guy wants to kill me over a parking space. Well, he thought it was his.
After a long morning search for a parking space, one I share with many other Norfolk State students every day, I came upon a potential spot. ``Mr. Big Stuff'' was on the opposite side of the street traveling toward the vacant space. I was on the same side of the street as the parking spot, and I proceeded to drive into it.
But he crossed the yellow line and dashed toward me in his metallic green low-riding car in an effort to beat me.
He failed.
This man did not take failure well. I always thought of myself as a lady, but this day I was called everything but that. I defeated him, and he couldn't handle it. So what else could he do? He stayed there, double-parked, and promised all sorts of retribution.
He told me I'd better not get out of the car or I'd be run over. And he told me that if I left, I'd find the car torn up when I got back.
I asked him whether tearing up my car or running me over with his would be worth it. He said he didn't care. At that point, I started to get a little scared.
Neither of us would move. He sat in his car in the middle of the street, blocking traffic. I sat sternly in my car, in the parking space that I had won. I was afraid to move because I didn't know what he would do.
We bickered for 30 minutes, which made me miss a class. I guess he finally gave in, because he drove away. Or was it because I asked a neighbor who appeared from his home to call the police?
After all that, I ended up moving my car, too. I didn't think it was worth it to come back to a wrecked vehicle.
Norfolk State is hoping to start construction of a parking garage in the next decade. But with problems like this, it's sad to say that '98 may be to-o-o-o late! ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Kia Morgan Allen is a junior at Norfolk State
by CNB