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Prey

2005-06-06

I�m beginning to feel like a magnet for weird at work, and I�ve only been there three weeks.

Today was the creepiest, and, I feel, the most dangerous, encounter I�ve had since starting at city hall.

At my afternoon break, I went downstairs and started out the building to sit outside in the sun and spend a few minutes reading. As I passed through the lobby a man sitting in one of the chairs said �Hey, hey, come over here. Have you got a few dollars?� He said this in a gravelly undertone, moving his lips as little as possible. I glanced his way, shook my head and went out. I thought, as I walked out the door, �I�m going to call upstairs and tell them there�s a panhandler in the lobby, harassing people for money.�

I walked out and off along a side path and into the Japanese garden to sit down. I pulled out my phone to call security when I saw the man walk out. I thought �Oh, I won�t have to call security; he�s leaving.�

Then I saw him stop and look around him, as though he were looking for someone. I don�t know that he was, but I felt he was looking for me. I blessed whatever impulse made me wear unobtrusive clothes in greens and browns, and I sat very still. He walked a few more paces along the path and stopped again, looking around. I waited until he�d gone around a corner behind a hedge. Then I stood up and went back inside and back upstairs.

When I related the incident to a co-worker she said �Oh, you were just like an animal, sitting still to avoid notice.� It was then that I realized that, yes, I felt just like an animal. A prey animal. And the best way to win a confrontation is to avoid it altogether. The guy passed within 20 feet of me and didn�t see me at all. I don�t think he would have found me the easy mark he thought I might be; my first impulse when threatened is to yell and be more than a little aggressive myself. But I�d still rather avoid the situation entirely.

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