Until May ends, I am living in an apartment complex that backs up to a wildflower preserve with a trail that goes around it. The trail is probably half a mile total, and part of it turns from dirt into a pebbled sidewalk that weaves behind a neighborhood. Now that it's Spring, it's much more scenic. There are lots of trees and wildflowers. Which are really just attractive weeds I guess. I don't have a camera, except for the one on my phone--which sucks--so I couldn't take a picture but found the one above on the internet. Mable Davis Skatepark is just down the way from my apt. You can't see the trail, but it's back there, behind the fence and then on the other side behind all those trees. See that little playground just to the right of the skatepark in the photo? With the yellow slide? It's fairly close to the trail. Anyway, it's nothing exciting but since gas is close to $73 a gallon I can't really justify driving to the trail at Townlake just to go for a walk, so I go there instead. But here's the thing: over the past, oh, I don't know, ten days or so, I've seen three separate creepy guys there. It's not a crowded trail. Sometimes I'm the only one out there. I let my imagination get the best of me, and on these three occasions I've let these creepy guys get to me, have turned my ass around to stay to the side of the trail that's not completely wooded, and come back home. One guy wasn't a guy really, more like 17. Anyway, he just stood in the middle of the trail, with a stick about three feet long, staring. Dexter is one of my favorite shows. I started thinking about it and got the feeling he was thinking hard about whether or not he and his stick could take me down. So I turned around. A few days later there was this guy who was probably homeless and harmless. I could see him up ahead of me, standing off to the side of the trail on the grass, flailing his hands around like he was arguing with an imaginary nemesis. When I got close enough for him to hear me, he stopped suddenly, turned to me and said "Oh! Sorry. I was just practicing!" He had a nick on his forehead and his jeans were dirty. I wasn't sure what he was practicing for and why he'd decided to do it there, so I hurried past him and then rather than make another loop went home.
Then yesterday, everything seemed like it was gonna be fine. I had seen a couple of other joggers out there, and a family of four. But then, on my third (and final) lap, as I'm halfway around I come up on some dude sitting Indian style smack dab in the middle of the trail. At first I figured him for a harmless hippie. But then, I couldn't be sure. It was just that there was no reason for him to be situated where he was. I imagined he wanted to slice my ankle with a switchblade as I passed by, so I turned around before I got to him.
Well, I'm getting ready to head back out there now. My little daily strolls around this creepy, and for the most part crappy, trail are the only activity I get beyond these four walls so I have to go.
Wish me luck.
Update: Just got back. Creep-free stroll.
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