I had a slightly disturbing thing happen on during my scooter ride today. Christopher drops me off around a mile and a half from the house and I ride back home. I do it this way because it forces me to ride home, the only place to go, before the heat gets truly intolerable. And the fastest way is also the most tiring (my kick scooter.) So it’s a good way to burn some calories. Even so, by the time I arrive, I am literally soaked in sweat. Dripping —not even kidding. But it would be a lot worse under the burning sun.

It’s usually an uneventful ride, during which I see lots of cars since I ride on Pines, and a few joggers, but that’s it. Today, walking towards me about a block away, I saw a guy. You know when a guy just gives you a vibe… but I just kinda fly past them so I don’t generally worry. I looked at my phone (I had paused for a moment) and when I look up, I just notice the guy ducking into the giant bushes that line the left side of the road.

Then I do get a little antsy, because there is nothing there: only gigantic bushes/tree/greenery, and a ditch. There isn’t even a fence that this guy would be able to scale, as I recall… there’s just nowhere to go there, so really one of two options: 1) the guy ducked in there to pee or such 2) the guy ducked in there to flash me/scare me or, God forbid, drag me into the ditch/bush. Despite being such a busy street, had me managed to drag me in there, no one would have seen me once he had done that part.

So I’m standing about a block away still. Now, this seems like a lot, but it’s a large open street by the highway and you can see clearly a few blocks ahead, and he could easily see me, a small girl with a little dress and a hot pink helmet in a kick scooter. From a distance, I would definitely look a LOT younger than I am. A LOT. And he’s not coming out.

Minutes go by. I start to wonder if there really might have been a way for him to sneak into the buildings on the other side, and he was taking a shortcut, but it doesn’t seem possible. My option is to go back about a block, cross a busy street with a long light, and then have to cross again. It would take a long time, everything is far away. I’m very tired.

I start trying to call Christopher to tell him my location and what’s happening and that I’m going to try just, flying past that spot. Or see what he advices. But the call isn’t going through. Just then this burly gentleman, a jogger, runs past me, and I immediately begin riding after him, seeing my chance. I’m riding very slowly, trying not to get too close to the jogger, but the poor guy keeps looking back, trying to leave me room to pass. Which, you know. I’m not gonna do. He has headphones on so I can’t explain anything.

As we get closer the sketchy guy comes out, kinda hiding his face with his hand. When we are almost crossing paths he looks up, trying to get my attention, waving, and only then do I zoom past the jogger and go as fast as I can. My heart was racing. If he’d ignored me I would have thought nothing of it, but… hard not to see it as something potentially sinister.

I called Christopher afterwards and he agreed it sounded off, so he wants me to have some mace with me from now on. I didn’t think I’d have to worry about this in a busy highway 3 minutes walk away from the police department, at 8:00am, but, well, there you go.

It was a fine ride otherwise, but, yeah. 🙃