BIG SCREECHER: Carmine references Star Wars

See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Carmine Santa Maria

Brooklyn Daily

I’m madder than Luke Skywalker when he found out that his father was, in fact, the evil Darth Vader over the fact that newspapers today reek of horror, disasters, and unbelievable tales of man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man, with nary a mention of the simple kindnesses that good neighbors do day in and day out in real life.

Look, you all know that the papers went crazy writing about that guy who they said was holding those poor women hostage for something like 10 years day after day after day. So I don’t need to tell you that I wasn’t especially excited to pick up the newspapers the kids deliver to my front door everyday, because I knew I was gonna once again be inundated with horrific news.

But longtime readers of this column know that not everything is bad (even though most stuff makes me angry) and the ol’Screecher is capable — nay mandated — to write about things that lift the spirit.

Allow me to share this true story of what could have been front page in our ever-pandering, obsequious tabloids, but instead is a reaffirmation that when push comes to shove, good shall triumph over evil, because evil is dumb.

It all started when I was heading to the free dance classes I teach at Seth Low JHS every Wednesday. I had just loaded into Access-A-Ride atop my trusty steed Tornado when I noticed a platoon of cops rushing to my castle, the beautiful Harway Terrace in Bensonhurst, as if they were storming a donut shop. For a second, I wondered what was going on, but we pulled away quickly, and I had to put it out of my mind, so as to ensure my 30 students got the full Carmine dance experience (Hey, you get what you pay for!).

Not until the next day, when I had my daily meeting with the building manager (which I have everyday to ensure that everything is ok) did I learn what happened. At the meeting, a group of women were watching the security cameras recollecting who was where, when, and why. That’s when I remember the cops I saw the night before, and demanded I be brought up to date with what went down.

So began the saga of two little girls lost, which (spoiler alert, and if you haven’t guessed already) has a happing ending.

Two beautiful young moms who happen to be sisters live in Harway on the same floor, with apartments directly across from one another. They have three kids between them, ages 6 years, 2 years, and 18 months, so you can imagine how the kids go back and forth between the two places as if they own them both, with the moms sharing responsibility for all three.

The newer mom with her 18-month-old girl had her two nieces with her in her apartment and realized she had to run across the street to buy a Mother’s Day card for her mother-in-law. So, she popped her head into her sister’s apartment to tell her where she was going and that the kids were in her apartment and to keep an eye on them.

While she was out, the oldest of the girls went to look for her mom, assuming she was in the apartment across the hall. The littler kids went to follow her, but were a little slow, and assumed the 6-year-old went into the elevator, so they headed into that.

Now, I know what your thinking: “Carmine, aren’t you patrolling the hallways of Harway to make sure stuff like this doesn’t happen?” The answer is usually “Yes,” but “Millionaire” was on at this time on the Zenith in the living room, and I got sucked in.

Anyways, one of the little kids who was in the elevator got off on a different floor, and because all the hallways look the same, she headed over to the apartment she thought was hers, but wasn’t, knocked on the door, and the resident there opened it up, saw the little girl, and did what any Good Samaraman would do in this situation: call 911.

Meanwhile, the 18 month old was riding the elevator alone sobbing her heart out, when a Good Samarawoman spotted her and cuddled her to stop her frantic crying, bringing her to the lobby floor to see who knew the child. The handyman came, recognized the child and called 911, to report the second missing child.

Mind you, all of this happened in about five minutes.

The building’s top security cop went to the floor where the kids lived and knocked on the aunt’s apartment where the mom had just realized that the other two were missing.

Meanwhile, when her sister returned from the store, she assumed all the kids were with her sister, and not until the guard told her that her daughter was downstairs crying did she almost faint and die a thousand deaths thinking what could have happened.

So here we have a happy ending based on human kindness, concern and love for your fellow man, which really is the credo for anyone that is a mom.

Hope you had a happy Mother’s Day, and screech at you next week!

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