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The day the Iranians went home.
There is a cluster of newsmen at the corner of Waterside Drive and Massachusetts Ave NW. A dark sky threatens rain. At the far side of the intersection, a police barrier keeps all out but a privileged few.
A black Lincoln Continental pulls toward the intersection. There is no one in back. The cameras are trained on it anxiously, then dropped in disappointment. A man seated on the curb across the street juts out his hand, thumb held downward. He yells "No good, no good!" over and over at the limousine as it passes. Another limo comes through. This one is crowded with swarthy faces who frown at the cameras as they go by. A dark stationwagon bristling with lights pulls up. "Hey here's that secret serviceman I told you about." a reporter says. The man on the curb across the street calls out, "You a crook, man, you a crook, hey, you a crook, man!" The driver looks at him angrily and turns onto Waterside Drive.
2:48 Here comes a small moving van labeled Maislin. It is duly recorded by the WRC-TV camera crew. More cameras appear. The nut across the street is calling people in a car waiting to take the detour "crooks".
A media droid mentions to another that they'll probably not leave til 9pm tonight.
A few people from nearby embassies are standing about, as well as a new helckler or demonstrator. He is an elderly black man. He carries a large US flag furled, and a two sided sign. One side says: Send my regards to the Ayatollah Satani" the other said something about sending sympathizers to Iran as well: "Take your symathizers with you".
Five fire trucks have suddenly appeared. They trundle through the intersection and lumber up Mass Avenue to a point slightly past the Iranian Embassy.
There are perhaps a dozen cops at the barrier.
A huge Mayflower van pulls up, stops. Brawny driver reaches out with a manifest and asks directions. He has a map witten on the back of the manifest. He is confused and climbs out to parley. The ABC camera team darts up, peeking at the driver and hanging a mike over the consultation.
3:15 pm. A newsman says they'll probably be moved out soon, according to a cop. Meanwhile more of the curious arrive. Cops buzz back and forth on tiny motorbikes, swarms of ten or more.
Slowly, laboriously the truck backs around in the cramped (for a moving van) intersection and vanishes toward downtown Washington.
The newsmen ( plus a single female photographer) are bored. They talk about great bloopers and screw ups of the past: a cameraman on assignment in South America who left his camera and tape machine outside his hotel while he went up to his room. Returning, camera gone and he blames his soundman for it. These and other anecdotes occupy the time.
4:05 A half dozen DC police come off the Rock Creek Parkway and pull to the side of the bridge. Then twelve more cars come blasting down Massachausetts Ave from the vicinity of the Iranian Embassy and pass by, escorted by Metropolitan Police Department vehicles.
That's them.
The Iranians are gone.
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