The future. It's a totally unpredicatable and unvoidable thing that can change with every breath we take. Sometimes we can plan our future, but sometimes our future can plan us.
Yesterday afternoon, I went with my entire family to a college orientation for my brother Darrin. Being that it would be his first year as a freshman, Darrin needed to meet with counselor's to discuss his future, while I needed to go to the restroom to get rid of an itchy booger. And that's when I saw him. The gray haired man. He stood at the restroom sink, looking into the mirror. The strange thing was, he wasn't looking at his reflection...he was looking at me. Through the small sliver of a crack in the stall, I could see this man's beady little eyes looking at me, watching my every nose-blowing move.
I froze and wondered what possible explanation could this old man have to just hang around an empty restroom? Quickly, I locked the stall and continued to "blow" my nose, hoping he would just leave.
A minute later, the gray haired man did leave. But no sooner did I leave the bathroom and turn around the corner to the soda machines, that I saw him again. Ugh. It was like a bad Will Smith movie that just wouldn't end. But this time, instead of running away, screaming, "Dear God, NO!" I would stand my ground. Not to say that it would have been perfectly normal to run screaming. It's a fight or flight mechanism and seeing as how a creepy old man is hardly something worth fighting, it stands to reason that one should then take flight. It's a totally valid way to handle it, no matter what anyone says. But not this time.
Two Sierra Mist's later, the gray haired man and I had actually struck up a conversation. Apparently, he was waiting for a teacher friend of his, and was just trying to pass the time by observing the college. But during the entire time, I felt uncomfortable, because I knew my fly was open. Why else was the gray haired man constantly glancing down at my crotch?
ME: So, is your friend almost done?
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Why are you a cop?
ME: No...I wonder why he would ask that?
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Just checkin'! Say, do you know of a more quiet bathroom?
ME: A quiet bathroom? Oh, snap! That's why he was just standing at the sink! He's a shy pee-er! Yeah, I think there's one upstairs.
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Well, I think it's more private in the RV Building right across. We can talk there if you'd like...
I couldn't believe it. Two years in college and just when I had given up on finding someone to flirt with outside the classroom, I was getting hit on. Leaving his proposal in the air, the gray haired man left and walked outside. I wasnt sure if he was for real, and so, I followed him to the window and watched him actually cross the quad and go into the RV Building. Did he actually think he would lure me into a deserted building?
Immeadiately, I knew I had to take action. I would inform the campus police of this sexual offender and be pronounced a hero at the college. They would print my name and photo on numerous posters, warning incoming freshman of the dangers of gray haired men who lingered around restrooms and I...wait. Where exactly is the campus police? Hmmm. Not entirely sure, I went to the one person I knew, who worked at the college.
Lou-Ann. She was a finacial aid advisor who just so happened to also be the twin cousin of my ex-best friend extrodinaire, Brenda . Their mother's were identical twins and so both Lou-Ann and Brenda inheirted similar looks. As I told Lou-Ann about my brush with possible statutory rape, I couldnt shake the feeling I was talking to Brenda. And even though I vowed never again to speak to her, I realized I didnt hate Brenda. In fact, I had no feelings whatsoever towards her. She was just another person in the world, and all those feelings I had for her during the time we were friends was gone.
What wasnt gone, however, was the unshaken feeling that the gray haired man was waiting for me. Hiding behind the bushes or a corner, just waiting to spring out and ask why I didnt continue our conversation in the bathroom. Lou-Ann explained it would probably take a while before the police would investigate the bathroom, which meant that most likely, the gray haired man would get away and stalk another young man, some other day. Upset by the whole outcome, I decided to find my dad, ask for the keys, and wait in the car.
It was dark and windy out, and the pouring rain was like a thick blanket, hiding my car. It also didnt help that hail had begun to fall, but I was determined to make it to my car, because standing not thirty feet away in the hallway, was the gray haired man. I ran to the car, trying to push my way through the wind, hoping this crazed man would leave me alone. He didnt. After I jumped in the car and thanked God for making me faster than the gray haired man, I realized I left the keys hanging in the car door. The gray haired man saw the keys, ran right up and snatched them from their resting place. I was in disbelief. Was this man for reals? Did he actually just take my keys?
Freaked, I combined my fight or flight mechanism and ran into the thick blanket of rain and hail, not knowing what I was going to do, once I caught up with my car key theft, but just hoping that he would hand the keys over and turn himself in. Of course, that would never happen, but what did happen was the gray haired man fell and biffed it hard on the gravel asphalt, throwing the keys in the air.
After picking them up from the ground, I ran back to the car shaking from both fear and my drenched clothes. What the hell was going on? Where the hell was everybody? And why the hell was it raining so hard? Then somebody banged on the car window, and after screaming bloody murder, I saw it was my dad. Apparently, the orientation had ended due to the really bad weather and just as people were leaving, they saw the gray haired man fall and me run away with "his" keys. But before they could help him up, the gray haired man ran, leaving behind many unanswered questions and leaving me with one less prophecy to worry about.
Yesterday afternoon, I went with my entire family to a college orientation for my brother Darrin. Being that it would be his first year as a freshman, Darrin needed to meet with counselor's to discuss his future, while I needed to go to the restroom to get rid of an itchy booger. And that's when I saw him. The gray haired man. He stood at the restroom sink, looking into the mirror. The strange thing was, he wasn't looking at his reflection...he was looking at me. Through the small sliver of a crack in the stall, I could see this man's beady little eyes looking at me, watching my every nose-blowing move.
I froze and wondered what possible explanation could this old man have to just hang around an empty restroom? Quickly, I locked the stall and continued to "blow" my nose, hoping he would just leave.
A minute later, the gray haired man did leave. But no sooner did I leave the bathroom and turn around the corner to the soda machines, that I saw him again. Ugh. It was like a bad Will Smith movie that just wouldn't end. But this time, instead of running away, screaming, "Dear God, NO!" I would stand my ground. Not to say that it would have been perfectly normal to run screaming. It's a fight or flight mechanism and seeing as how a creepy old man is hardly something worth fighting, it stands to reason that one should then take flight. It's a totally valid way to handle it, no matter what anyone says. But not this time.
Two Sierra Mist's later, the gray haired man and I had actually struck up a conversation. Apparently, he was waiting for a teacher friend of his, and was just trying to pass the time by observing the college. But during the entire time, I felt uncomfortable, because I knew my fly was open. Why else was the gray haired man constantly glancing down at my crotch?
ME: So, is your friend almost done?
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Why are you a cop?
ME: No...I wonder why he would ask that?
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Just checkin'! Say, do you know of a more quiet bathroom?
ME: A quiet bathroom? Oh, snap! That's why he was just standing at the sink! He's a shy pee-er! Yeah, I think there's one upstairs.
GRAY HAIRED MAN: Well, I think it's more private in the RV Building right across. We can talk there if you'd like...
I couldn't believe it. Two years in college and just when I had given up on finding someone to flirt with outside the classroom, I was getting hit on. Leaving his proposal in the air, the gray haired man left and walked outside. I wasnt sure if he was for real, and so, I followed him to the window and watched him actually cross the quad and go into the RV Building. Did he actually think he would lure me into a deserted building?
Immeadiately, I knew I had to take action. I would inform the campus police of this sexual offender and be pronounced a hero at the college. They would print my name and photo on numerous posters, warning incoming freshman of the dangers of gray haired men who lingered around restrooms and I...wait. Where exactly is the campus police? Hmmm. Not entirely sure, I went to the one person I knew, who worked at the college.
Lou-Ann. She was a finacial aid advisor who just so happened to also be the twin cousin of my ex-best friend extrodinaire, Brenda . Their mother's were identical twins and so both Lou-Ann and Brenda inheirted similar looks. As I told Lou-Ann about my brush with possible statutory rape, I couldnt shake the feeling I was talking to Brenda. And even though I vowed never again to speak to her, I realized I didnt hate Brenda. In fact, I had no feelings whatsoever towards her. She was just another person in the world, and all those feelings I had for her during the time we were friends was gone.
What wasnt gone, however, was the unshaken feeling that the gray haired man was waiting for me. Hiding behind the bushes or a corner, just waiting to spring out and ask why I didnt continue our conversation in the bathroom. Lou-Ann explained it would probably take a while before the police would investigate the bathroom, which meant that most likely, the gray haired man would get away and stalk another young man, some other day. Upset by the whole outcome, I decided to find my dad, ask for the keys, and wait in the car.
It was dark and windy out, and the pouring rain was like a thick blanket, hiding my car. It also didnt help that hail had begun to fall, but I was determined to make it to my car, because standing not thirty feet away in the hallway, was the gray haired man. I ran to the car, trying to push my way through the wind, hoping this crazed man would leave me alone. He didnt. After I jumped in the car and thanked God for making me faster than the gray haired man, I realized I left the keys hanging in the car door. The gray haired man saw the keys, ran right up and snatched them from their resting place. I was in disbelief. Was this man for reals? Did he actually just take my keys?
Freaked, I combined my fight or flight mechanism and ran into the thick blanket of rain and hail, not knowing what I was going to do, once I caught up with my car key theft, but just hoping that he would hand the keys over and turn himself in. Of course, that would never happen, but what did happen was the gray haired man fell and biffed it hard on the gravel asphalt, throwing the keys in the air.
After picking them up from the ground, I ran back to the car shaking from both fear and my drenched clothes. What the hell was going on? Where the hell was everybody? And why the hell was it raining so hard? Then somebody banged on the car window, and after screaming bloody murder, I saw it was my dad. Apparently, the orientation had ended due to the really bad weather and just as people were leaving, they saw the gray haired man fall and me run away with "his" keys. But before they could help him up, the gray haired man ran, leaving behind many unanswered questions and leaving me with one less prophecy to worry about.
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