[Un leu, un leu... Chapter XIII] My Evenamentul Legitimatia, or Pride Goeth Before a Fall, and How It Saved Me

This is a continuation of the book "Un leu, un leu...", which was written in Romanian by my late godfather and uncle Bill Edwards, and published by Evenimentul, a now defunct Romanian publishing company. The book is being released for the first time in English exclusively online here on Steemit, as a serial. I hope you enjoy his writings as much as I do!
-Rob

When I visited Romania last January, I was issue a legitimatia from EVENAMENTUL, proclaiming that I was a bona fide representative of this August publication. The Editor in Chief, Paul Tutungiu, made sure that the lettering that had to be placed inside of it was absolutely correct and “frumos,” and even gave me the special number, “17,” that I asked for. I was very proud of these press credentials and had harassed Domnul Tutungiu and Professor Teodor Popescu of Evenamental to no end, to assure that I would have the card prior to my departure.

Example of what a legitimatia looks like.

The card was duly issued and immediately I began to flash it on anyone who would listen to me brag that I was a member of the staff of Evenamentul and look at the card. I showed it to press officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when I visited old acquaintances there. They indicated that they thought it was droll and stated that when I became accredited with an American publication they would issue me real press accreditation from the government of Romania. I showed it to an American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who works in Romania and he took notes. I showed it to some former Romanian colleagues now retired from the American Embassy in Bucharest, and they, knowing that I was also retired, said they thought that was just marvelous. We had a good laugh over wine, cognac and very good coffee in the elegant old world setting of Capsa Restaurant.

Jugoslavian Airliner

On my way back to the United States, I used the Legitimatia and my passport to get upgraded to first class on the Jugoslavian airliner I was flying back on. When I arrived back in the US, I continued to flash my Evenamentul legitimatia. I even had the hubris to show it to a very well-known journalist from the New York Times who frequently write on Romania, two former US Ambassadors to Romania, two former Deputy Chiefs of Mission, and innumerable American diplomats who served at the American Embassy in Bucharest. Once I even used it as identification with Washington, D.C. police when I was stopped for some minor infraction – and was let off on the strength of the Legitimatia.

Strike one was when I lost the legitimatia in March when returning from a night class on International Relations that I was taking at Georgetown University. I duly informed Domnul Tutungiu and Professor Popescu, and they duly sent me a duplicate Evenamentul legitimatia, without a photo, via a friend who was visiting Bucharest from Washington. Strike two was that I continued to flash my Evenamentul Legitimatia after I had placed my photo in it, and within one week – actually six days from the moment my friend gave me the card – I had lost it again, this time under the most serious circumstances.

Mugging in Washington D.C.

It was a Friday night and I had gone to a couple of neighborhood bars and restaurants to have a few beers and a meal. While walking home by way of a shortcut that is not as well lit as the streets I should have walked home on, I felt a presence behind me. I looked over my left shoulder and saw fifteen or twenty feet behind me a quick movement to the right out of my line of sight. Immediately I know I was about to be mugged and robbed. I rushed up a short flight of stairs in front of my to an open esplanade that leads to my house. The person behind me was a black man of medium-brown complexion, and about five feet nine or ten inches tall, of about 26 or 30 years of age. He was wearing a zip-up jacket, jogging shoes, dark trousers, and…a baseball cap. As I got to the top of the esplanade, I turned to the man. Alas he had a pistol and I have seen enough pistols to know that this one was real. The pistol was pointed directly at my heart. I know this because I have been a target shooter for over 40 years. As I faced and stared at this man with a very mean face, he said, “Give me your money!” As I reached into my inside coat pocket thinking that I could bluff him, he said, “I have a gun and I will shoot you.” I said here is my money, and from my inside shirt pocket I pulled out an address book and my Evenamentul legitimatia and flung it down the stairs at the man, hoping this would keep him away from me. I actually think that this mugger was trying to sneak up on me, jab the gun in my back, and put an arm around my neck, “yolking me,” and maybe hitting me a couple of times in the head with his gun. Then he would take my wallet, watch, ring, gold chain, and all other valuables I had on me. As it was, there was about $60 folded in the legitimatia. When the man saw the bills and other papers fluttering about him, he stopped to pick them all up, still holding the pistol at me. I took this opportunity to back further away from him. Emboldened by the additional distance between me and this bad man with a gun, I yelled at him to please throw my identity card (legitimatia) back to me after he took the money. With a withering look at me, he murmured some obscenity and in turn, flung down the address book and papers. He kept the Evenamentul legitimatia and money, and like a magician, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

All of this happened within 200 meters of a police station, and 50 meters from my house. I immediately walked to the police station and reported the crime. An officer accompanied me to the spot and took my report. I have not heard a word since then, other than reading it an anonymous crime report in the Washington Post two weeks later. This robbery happened in one of the oldest most beautiful neighborhoods in Washington within sight of a street that the President of the United States drives down on his way to Ft. Leslie J. McNair, the second oldest active military installation in the United States, to attend official functions and sometimes jog. I have also seen numerous government officials within 100 meters of the spot on which I was robbed at gunpoint. Some of these people include the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Thomas Foley, who with his wife has nodded to me a couple of times as they passed my house; one-time Presidential candidate, Senator Paul Simon; and newly appointed Justice of the US Supreme Court, David Souter, who recently signed an autograph for me in our local supermarket.

Jack Anderson reporting.

What does it all mean? I asked myself that question the next morning, less than 10 hours after the event, while sitting in my yard 50 meters away from that fateful spot, reading an article by Jack Anderson in that morning’s Washington Post on how he was assaulted and robbed in downtown Washington D.C., becoming just another statistic and unsolved crime victim in police records. After reading Mr. Anderson’s article, which asked for crime victims to send him accounts of crimes perpetrated against them so that he might use them to encourage the Congress to do something about the rising tide of crime, I decided to write this article and send a copy to Mr. Anderson. And…Domnul Paul Tutungiu and Professor Teodor Popescu, since the story involved my second Evenamentul legitimatia, I thought that I would file it with you.

P.S. Any chance of getting another legitimatia? I promise I won’t get a third strike with this one…

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, please tell me what you thought of it in the comments below. Also, be sure to read the rest of Bill's works that are being published exclusively here on Steemit:

• Chapter I: Four Corners
• Chapter II: The Man of a Thousand Faces: Domnul Lefter, The Painter
• Chapter III: Cat Food in Romania
• Chapter IV: My Story About the First American in my Family
• Chapter V: A Pot of Rice
• Chapter VI: Same time, Same place, next Christmas
• Chapter VII: Oh, No, Not the Consignatia!
• Chapter VIII: Nu Faci Nimic (It Doesn’t Make Any Difference)
• Chapter IX: Un Leu, Un Leu
  
• Chapter X: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous or Vise Versa
• Chapter XI: The Day of the Great White Shark
• Chapter XII: A Tale of Two Rings