As it was not a terrible evening, weather-wise, I got off at the early stop yesterday afternoon, for the big walk to my train station.
Let me sidetrack a bit, before I get too far into the story.
Folks who ride the el trains regularly will likely tell you that they're so used to the mildly crazy, the homeless, the psychologically or pharmaceutically impaired, that they don't really pay attention anymore. Garden variety crazy doesn't even really rate notice. So when someone DOES catch your attention, it's cuz something's seriously off about them....
So when I stepped off the el train yesterday afternoon, and was immediately drawn toward such a person, I knew he was.... special.
I noticed him right away. Walking back and forth, looking around, stopping, changing direction, etc. He was wearing a parka and a ski hat, and thick black rimmed sunglasses with yellow lenses. Bono sunglasses, if you will. He also hadn't shaved in 3-4 days.
And he was carrying a longish cloth bag with a large lump in the bottom of it, obviously heavy.
First thought was that he was simply lost, took the wrong stairs to the wrong platform, didn't know which train to get on - something like that. Quickly realized it was something more.
He ran past me while taking the escalator to the next level. Then paused, looked around, did the back and forth, waited by the elevators for a second...
Then followed me through the turnstiles, and out into the government building that's attached to the El train stop.
The Thompson Center is gorgeous. Basically a big, tall, round building, all of glass. you can stand in the center of the basement, and look straight up a couple dozen stories, and it's dazzling. If you recall seeing the movie Running Scared with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines, the climax was filmed there....
So it's in the direction I need to go, and it's visually appealing, which is why I head out that way.
And I'm usually the only one doing so, as everyone else is headed somewhere else, and the building's businesses have shut down by 5:45.
So it was me and the strange man alone in the basement of the Thompson Center, save for a small cleaning crew at the other end of the building. He passes me, then stops at the bottom of the escalator, and acts like he's nervous about stepping onto it. He allows me to go first, then immediately hops on behind me. I move quickly up the escalator, he follows. I get outside, he's right behind me. I start walking west toward my street, and looking for a hole in the traffic so I can cross. He's still behind me. I stop and turn around to face him, when he's about 10 feet away from me. He turns around and starts walking the other way, and I cross the street in front of traffic. When I turn around to see if he's still there, he's standing by a trash can, looking around. He then very carefully places his bag into the trash can, and proceeds to walk away in the opposite direction, fairly quickly.
This is so very NOT right....
I call 911, give them the rundown of his appearance and behaviour. They want great detail on his clothes, etc, I want to get to the part of the story where he places a suspicious bag in a trash can out in front of a government building....
Finally finish the call, and haul *ss away from there, to catch my train, and to put distance between myself and him, and the mysterious bag in the trash can.
I look over my shoulder all the way to my train station...
The Thompson Center was still standing this morning, so I guess everything turned out ok.
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