"Hey honey, I'm bored"

"Why don't you play chicken with traffic if you're so bored?"

Usually, my walks are relaxing, sometimes they're even downright enlightening. Last night I had a disturbing walk. I so wished I had taken my boss' offer of a ride.

It was after 6. I felt I needed a walk to clear my head before I went to teach yoga. I needed some space, some "me time".

I saw a "man" and a woman on the opposite side of the street. The man was pushing a stroller. He veered suddenly into the street as traffic approached with the stroller pushed as far in front of him as he could manage. He slowed down in every lane with the stroller in front of him, glaring at drivers, and (fortunately) forcing them to slow down. When he got to my side, I felt fear well up in me. I figured I'd just stay behind him and keep him in my sights. He waited for the light to turn, watched the traffic and again pushed the stroller in front of him into traffic. Same deal back to the other side. Now I'm almost in a near panic. Wondering what he'll do next. Wondering if next time he'll push the stroller into the street alone. Wondering why I chose today, of all days, to forget my cell phone in my car. Not that I'd know who to call anyway. "Um, excuse me, 911? Yeah, there's this guy and he's crossing the street. No, no accident. He's just got this really powerful strong negative energy about him. Hello? Hello?"

As he continued on the other side of the street, he ran the stroller over the grass, caught up with the woman (who didn't seem to care, mind, or even notice what he had done), and settled down.

I haven't forgotten it yet. I never did see a child. Perhaps this was his way of proving his manliness, you know, making people think he was playing chicken with a child when really there wasn't a child in the stroller. Hilarious. Why am I not laughing?