AZ

My family and I met Marilyn tonight. We were coming out of a burger place and she was "set up" with all of her papers on one of the outside tables. We were almost to our car when called out. She said she was coming from a battered woman's shelter and needed a ride to the Good Sam Hospital on 14th and McDowell. It's close to where we live and she really did seem harmless, so we agreed to take her. I noticed she had a ton of papers with lots of cursive writing on them, but I thought maybe it was a journal of some sort, maybe having to do with her treatment at the shelter she spoke of. She really didn't talk a lot. I tried to make conversation on the 5-10 minute drive, but didn't get a lot out of her. She said she was from California and that she had only been in Phoenix for a two weeks. She mentioned that it wasn't going very well at all. At one point we passed a mortuary and she was quick to point it out. I didn't want to ask any questions and be nosey, so I assumed she was going to see someone very ill at Good Sam. We got to the hospital and as soon as my husband was about to turn in, she requested a location further down the street (Safeway at 7th St. and McDowell). She obviously didn't have an "appointment" at the hospital. When we dropped her off, she handed me her "manifesto". She said she was an activist and I just said that was great. I handed her a $5 bill and she thanked me for the donation. As my husband helped her with ALL of her stuff (various grocery bags full of stuff and a few black bags) she told my husband, "the white brotherhood and white sisterhood had helped out today and we are now friends for life". Of course, once she got out of the car I started reading the paper she had given me. As soon as we got home I googled "Carl Wyman" and found this blog. I just spent the last 45 minutes reading all the encounters with her. I'm shocked. Nothing this interesting ever happens to me.