30th
Stranger
So I was out all Friday running errands and going to meetings all around town, and I stopped and sat outside a coffee shop having a rest and a snack. There were three tables that were quite close together and a man/boy sitting in the middle one. I sat on one end and sipped my coffee and a few minutes later, a woman sat on the other end with her lunch.
The man turned to her and said “excuse me, why is it so hard to get a girlfriend, everyone is already effing hooked up.” She just gave him a bewildered look and continued eating.
“Do you want to go out with me, do you have a boyfriend?” he asked her.
AT this point she got up and went to another table further away.
He turned to me, held out his hand and said “Can I have that, can I have what you’re eating?” I looked up and he was looking me straight in the eye with a smile on his face. He wouldn’t have looked scary but the look in his eyes was strangely blank. It was like looking into a doll’s face. He continued, “why doesn’t Rachel want to be with me?!”
I picked up my stuff and made to leave, when he abruptly got up and stormed off. He walked to another store front paces away and all of a sudden shouted “FUCK!” It startled me pretty badly.
Now, I know that this guy was clearly crazy. He was also suffering a break-up it seems, but it probably had to do with his mental condition. My question is why people like this are allowed to wander free. He could have been dangerous. He could have had a knife or he could have simply attacked me or the other woman with his bare hands. He didn’t and I think both of us feel relief that nothing happened and that we just escaped a situation that could have ended up much worst.
His parents or whomever he lives and works with must know about his condition, I don’t think that it was in his capacity to conceal it, but either they don’t feel that it’s their job to take better care of him, or perhaps they feel that it’s better if he’s someone else’s problem and not theirs.
I don’t know what to think about this, but after a man just got stabbed on the bus for saying “Hello” to someone, there’s worry at the back of my mind.
What is this world coming to?
