True Story©... The Treasure Hunt Pt. III
[Pt. II can be reached here]
A bait car…
After ALL the shit I lined up to excite these people into participating in my little game, a matriarch-fornicating BAIT CAR?!!?
When I left you, a complete creative brain fart caused me to latch onto the first thing to grab and hold my attention in a manner that I felt could be effectively used. So frantic was I to get some shit in action that I didn’t consider the fact that I was in the damned ‘hood and that cops might be looking for whatever opportunity they could find – or, as it were, CREATE – to “protect and serve” the community.
First thing’s first… My perpetual thumb-on-the-scale approach to making sure my chosen few make it to the finale worked like a charm. They were not the first there. In fact they were fourth, fifth and sixth if I am to believe the order in which I received their responses. Strangely enough, the back-to-back receipt of their responses would lead anyone paying attention to know that they had been there at or about the same time.
With that out of the way, we need to discuss what happened with the other 12 people still playing my little game. Mathematically, we should be able to deduce that three people arrived and got out before them and thereby leaving room for three more after them with the final three being eliminated.
… THIS is where shit gets interesting…
First of all, two contestants who just so happen to not be Black seemed to have the approximate location down, but instead of GOING there and staying in the game they responded a while later with “I am not going to that neighborhood,” thereby removing themselves from the competition. Well damn, elimination just got super simple, right? Hold on to your seats, because this shit is WILD. Two people went the wrong direction and took pictures with the wrong cars, thus rendering themselves eliminated. So two people quit, two people failed… That means I really don’t need to eliminate another person, right?
RIGHT?!!?
Wrong™!
I told y’all up at the beginning that it was a bait car…
Let me explain that I didn’t KNOW that it was a bait car. In hindsight, I probably should have known that it was. I could beg to be excused because I did not get out of the car when I stopped and cased it for my purposes. If I had, I would have noticed the doors prominently unlocked and the keys in the ignition. I would have spotted it as bait and found something else to use.
But here we are… The last (and thank God it was the last) person arrived to the car and either misunderstood my instructions or was just itching to commit a crime on this here day, because he GOT INTO THE CAR and drove off. Needless to say, he had traveled less than a mile in it before GPD swarmed a team to him and shut it down before arresting his ass.
I have always wondered if bait car arrests are routinely tossed due to ABSOLUTELY being entrapment, but—… hol’up, the girl who gave him a ride to the spot DM’d me on the faked BookFace account.
I SPECIFICALLY said to take a picture and not to take the whole damned car. To me, it seems more like this guy just wanted to help himself to a car. That business is between him and Greensboro Police Department. Either way, that brings me out of this round with five people eliminated instead of three. That would mean I only need to knock out one person in the next round. They will be more than pleased to hear that.
Almost time to get back to business, but my buddy Alabama Jay from Houston had to come into town for business and since he knows we’re both trying on this sober shit for a change nowadays, asked if I wanted to hang.
He was to be in Greensboro for work and despite Greensboro absolutely being a middle-sized city, I am apparently the only person from here that any of my friends from out of town know that they know. I figured we could hop in the car and I give him the quick tour of the city. Greensboro has some deep history as it relates to industry (fuel, denim, tobacco, etc…) despite being for the most part a “city” city. That highlights the major difference between ‘Bama and I, with him being a 6’3” country boy and me being a 5’8” city kid. If I told you how we “met” almost 20 years ago, I would have to make up some shit because damned if I remember. The plan would be to catch up since he wasn’t able to make it to Vegas for my wedding, we sit down for a good bite to eat and shoot the shit until each of us had to prepare for the bill-paying the next day. This all goes down without the Wife People™ because his had to stay back in Texas with the kiddo and fur kiddos.
I might be so inclined to say that–… Hold it.
Did I mention how diametrically different we are? Yes, yes I did. We wound up sitting down in one of my favorite Mediterranean places to eat. To see a kitchen and dining area full of people eyeballing a large white man and not-large black one, both bearded and tattooed, entering an establishment together was wild. I swear I heard someone mention a Buddy Cop movie. I mean, he is FROM Alabama but isn’t “Alabama man” in that cousin-lovin’ way, he just stands out when he is here, especially next to someone who looks like me. The fact that most of my friends are larger than me notwithstanding, he LOVED the food and we were soon back in the car to finish our ride.
Nearing back to his hotel to drop him back off – I had offered use of my spare room, but his employer was was paying and wanted him close to where he would be working – we passed through the old New Garden section of the city. I circled some of the neighborhoods and explained how the Quakers had sold the land that includes the WHOLE of the GSO airport to the city after it had held shit down during the underground railroad and provided safe spaces after emancipation.
[Phlip note: yes, that happened, check it out]
So Jay is back at the hotel and I know I won’t see him again before he has to fly back to Houston. I bid adieu and send my love to the wife and puppies before heading back to the house…
Oh shit, the treasure hunt!
In my excitement to catch up with the homie, I had forgotten I had lives to ruin. Think, Phillip, think!
I got it, I am out here on the west side, lemme run up in this Northern Tool and come up with something.
I bought a three-lock set with a common key and three "fake" keys, then went back to find some trees that were marked from the underground railroad and strung six keys up, with the three that I knew would work in the plainest of view. I then crafted my message, again to my marks first to give them a head start and then to everyone else…
My hope is that these three fuckwits don't manage to out-stupid my attempt to make sure THEY get to the "gold" here...
A bait car…
After ALL the shit I lined up to excite these people into participating in my little game, a matriarch-fornicating BAIT CAR?!!?
When I left you, a complete creative brain fart caused me to latch onto the first thing to grab and hold my attention in a manner that I felt could be effectively used. So frantic was I to get some shit in action that I didn’t consider the fact that I was in the damned ‘hood and that cops might be looking for whatever opportunity they could find – or, as it were, CREATE – to “protect and serve” the community.
First thing’s first… My perpetual thumb-on-the-scale approach to making sure my chosen few make it to the finale worked like a charm. They were not the first there. In fact they were fourth, fifth and sixth if I am to believe the order in which I received their responses. Strangely enough, the back-to-back receipt of their responses would lead anyone paying attention to know that they had been there at or about the same time.
With that out of the way, we need to discuss what happened with the other 12 people still playing my little game. Mathematically, we should be able to deduce that three people arrived and got out before them and thereby leaving room for three more after them with the final three being eliminated.
… THIS is where shit gets interesting…
First of all, two contestants who just so happen to not be Black seemed to have the approximate location down, but instead of GOING there and staying in the game they responded a while later with “I am not going to that neighborhood,” thereby removing themselves from the competition. Well damn, elimination just got super simple, right? Hold on to your seats, because this shit is WILD. Two people went the wrong direction and took pictures with the wrong cars, thus rendering themselves eliminated. So two people quit, two people failed… That means I really don’t need to eliminate another person, right?
RIGHT?!!?
Wrong™!
I told y’all up at the beginning that it was a bait car…
Let me explain that I didn’t KNOW that it was a bait car. In hindsight, I probably should have known that it was. I could beg to be excused because I did not get out of the car when I stopped and cased it for my purposes. If I had, I would have noticed the doors prominently unlocked and the keys in the ignition. I would have spotted it as bait and found something else to use.
But here we are… The last (and thank God it was the last) person arrived to the car and either misunderstood my instructions or was just itching to commit a crime on this here day, because he GOT INTO THE CAR and drove off. Needless to say, he had traveled less than a mile in it before GPD swarmed a team to him and shut it down before arresting his ass.
I have always wondered if bait car arrests are routinely tossed due to ABSOLUTELY being entrapment, but—… hol’up, the girl who gave him a ride to the spot DM’d me on the faked BookFace account.
“Hi,
My friend has been participating in your game and when he came to what he thought was the car that you had directed him to for the next part he found that the keys were in the ignition. He assumed this to mean that the car was the prize and he had won, so he got in and cranked it up. Well it turns out that the police department was running a bait car sting and he has now been arrested. He has a record and they are not making it easy for him to post bail. He asks that, if you could, to possibly speak to the police department about his situation so as to be able to get out of this sticky situation. He has already had a hard enough time finding sustainable work, which is why he was trying to win your prize but this only complicates things worse,
Please help if you can, PLEASE!”
I SPECIFICALLY said to take a picture and not to take the whole damned car. To me, it seems more like this guy just wanted to help himself to a car. That business is between him and Greensboro Police Department. Either way, that brings me out of this round with five people eliminated instead of three. That would mean I only need to knock out one person in the next round. They will be more than pleased to hear that.
Almost time to get back to business, but my buddy Alabama Jay from Houston had to come into town for business and since he knows we’re both trying on this sober shit for a change nowadays, asked if I wanted to hang.
He was to be in Greensboro for work and despite Greensboro absolutely being a middle-sized city, I am apparently the only person from here that any of my friends from out of town know that they know. I figured we could hop in the car and I give him the quick tour of the city. Greensboro has some deep history as it relates to industry (fuel, denim, tobacco, etc…) despite being for the most part a “city” city. That highlights the major difference between ‘Bama and I, with him being a 6’3” country boy and me being a 5’8” city kid. If I told you how we “met” almost 20 years ago, I would have to make up some shit because damned if I remember. The plan would be to catch up since he wasn’t able to make it to Vegas for my wedding, we sit down for a good bite to eat and shoot the shit until each of us had to prepare for the bill-paying the next day. This all goes down without the Wife People™ because his had to stay back in Texas with the kiddo and fur kiddos.
I might be so inclined to say that–… Hold it.
Did I mention how diametrically different we are? Yes, yes I did. We wound up sitting down in one of my favorite Mediterranean places to eat. To see a kitchen and dining area full of people eyeballing a large white man and not-large black one, both bearded and tattooed, entering an establishment together was wild. I swear I heard someone mention a Buddy Cop movie. I mean, he is FROM Alabama but isn’t “Alabama man” in that cousin-lovin’ way, he just stands out when he is here, especially next to someone who looks like me. The fact that most of my friends are larger than me notwithstanding, he LOVED the food and we were soon back in the car to finish our ride.
Nearing back to his hotel to drop him back off – I had offered use of my spare room, but his employer was was paying and wanted him close to where he would be working – we passed through the old New Garden section of the city. I circled some of the neighborhoods and explained how the Quakers had sold the land that includes the WHOLE of the GSO airport to the city after it had held shit down during the underground railroad and provided safe spaces after emancipation.
[Phlip note: yes, that happened, check it out]
So Jay is back at the hotel and I know I won’t see him again before he has to fly back to Houston. I bid adieu and send my love to the wife and puppies before heading back to the house…
Oh shit, the treasure hunt!
In my excitement to catch up with the homie, I had forgotten I had lives to ruin. Think, Phillip, think!
I got it, I am out here on the west side, lemme run up in this Northern Tool and come up with something.
I bought a three-lock set with a common key and three "fake" keys, then went back to find some trees that were marked from the underground railroad and strung six keys up, with the three that I knew would work in the plainest of view. I then crafted my message, again to my marks first to give them a head start and then to everyone else…
“As you may or may not know, Greensboro possesses a rich history in the way of Abolition and as a conduit on the Underground Railroad. What you will learn as you research this is that trees in the New Garden section were often marked with code to direct people on the road to freedom with directions. Leaning on this concept, I have placed some tokens on (unspecified) trees on this route. We had more people eliminated than designed last round, so there are seven people left with only six keys. Everyone who finds and presents me with a picture of their key can remain in the running.”
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