Farsong Blog-o-Matic - More Bus Stories

I just ran into some strange person as I was getting off the bus. Some sort of guy with a large hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, sunglasses, and pants that were in need of a belt gets off at my stop and waits at the corner for the bus to drive away before crossing the street. I'm busy texting on my phone, so I hang back to let him cross before I do, so I don't bump into him. He pauses on the east side of the street for some reason (fiddling with I don't know what), so I pass him. He catches up to me and starts walking next to me — I think he's going to pass me, so I slow down, but he matches my pace.

So, now I'm weirded out because I feel like he's crowding me; I don't mind walking two abreast on a sidewalk with someone I know — even a narrow sidewalk — but I don't know this guy; I walk on the very edge of the sidewalk, and he continues to crowd me. I move into the grass buffer strip between the sidewalk. He continues to crowd. I step into the street. He steps into the street and continues to crowd me, still keeping pace with me.

He moves back over to the sidewalk, laughing at me weirdly, and I continue to walk in the street. He shouts at me "ASSHOLE" and I just look at him, one eyebrow raised, and continue walking. He laughs again and hides behind the side of a house (I don't think it was his), and watches me. I walk across the street, quite nonplussed, still looking behind me from time to time and checking my pockets; that's the first time I've ever felt that way in Spokane (and it wasn't downtown!).