the library // the library hits a little too close to home

a preface to this entry's main bit: last week, i was helping a patron connect to the wireless network in our "quiet room," the only room in the library in which there is no talking allowed. as i was leaving, another patron (male, approximately 5-10 years older than me {i'll be 31 in 3 days}) kept looking at me. when i left the room, he followed me out to the reference desk.

male patron: you live at the <insert neutral apartment name here>, don't you?

me (hesitating because i don't especially want anybody at the library to know where i live): um...

male patron: i see you walking your dog a lot.

me: oh, okay. yeah, she's has to go outside a lot because she's not toilet-trained (i make lame jokes when i'm flustered).

another patron asks for help and the male patron goes back to his laptop in the quiet room.

main bit (please tolerate my half-assed attempts at illustrating the situation): today i woke up and took lola for her morning walk. i am the awesome and complex pink square.

halfway down the block, lola gets loose and attempts to play with a bird. i run after her and grab her leash. as i'm adjusting lola's collar, i look up and notice male patron (whose new library name will be revealed shortly) getting into his black car.

i decide to wait until he starts the car and drives off before continuing our walk because, in general, i like to avoid all contact with library patrons in public (amiright?). male patron does not start his car for several minutes and i can see he keeps looking at me. after he starts his car, he does not pull out and he continues to look at me. because lola is tugging like crazy to keep going, i decide to just suck it up and keep walking, past his car, across the street, and back towards the circular courtyard, cutting through buildings during the process.

as we begin to make our way around the courtyard, lola stops every few yards to mark her territory. i notice that male patron's car has pulled into and is now idling in the parking lot near the front of the complex.

my creeper radar starting to go off, i keep walking, looking back toward the parking lot every few seconds. male patron's car has reversed and pulled forward, still idling, just barely out of sight.

i continue walking, now starting to think that i should probably haul ass back to my apartment because i'm sufficiently weirded out. i look back one more time only to find that male patron's black car has reversed again and is now barely visible across the opposite end of the parking lot.

my heart beating a little faster and wishing there were other dog-walkers about, i continue back toward the other end of the courtyard. i'm about to head over to the parking lot and cross through to my apartment, but male patron's black car slowly pulls in. what. the. what.

there's no way i'm going to walk straight into his cocoon of crazy, so i veer off to the right and cut through the breezeway in another building. guess who i meet as i'm walking out?

stalker guy (pretending to head up the stairs in the breezeway): oh, hey. you're from the library, right?

me (not ashamed to admit i'm quite scared right about now): uh...

stalker guy: yeah, it's you. you're not working today?

me (because i want to somehow imply that if i don't show up for some reason or other, people will notice {read: please don't kill me!}): um, i'm working this afternoon.

stalker guy (still heading up the stairs): cool. i'll see you there.

me (inner monologue): not if i can help it.

i could easily cross the street and head to my apartment, but, still feeling creeped out, i decided to cut through another breezeway and go around the long way. as i look back, i see that stalker guy, never having made it to the top of the stairs, has turned around and is going back to his car.

at the back of the complex, thinking i've almost made it safely home (lola thinking she's having the best walk of her life), i see stalker guy's black car slowly driving up the street toward me.

he keeps driving slowly until the car is right next to me. he rolls down the window and cracks a smile.

stalker guy: so, can i have your number?

i'm going to stop the story here because i know what this librarian said, but i'm curious: what would you have said? is stalker guy a creeper or just really clueless on how to approach girls?