I love a late night walk.
I've seen the entirety of town beneath the streetlights.
I've seen the entirety of town beneath the streetlights.
Friends from less safe cities shudder at the thought of walking the streets after midnight. They worry.
A few weeks ago, not too late... I was walking the town, bratty dog at my side, when I was witness to a crime.
Sort of.
Standing outside the store was a young man in a hoodie. Hoodie up, face covered by shadows, smoking. He threw the butt on the ground, glanced over his shoulder and scurried in the shop door. It was weird. Nearly midnight on a friday. There were no cleaning vans parked nearby.
I looked closer, there were more figures lurking about in the store's shadows!
I looked closer, there were more figures lurking about in the store's shadows!
I slowed our pace. I didn't know what to do... do I call the cops? Do I call one of the store's employees? I tried to take a closer look.
There was something.. off. I mean, I try not to categorize people, I try not to think in terms of stereotypes... but one of the guys looked suspiciously like the guy from the computer store... and one looked like the guy from a rival trivia team who works at a local internet provider... one was drinking a bottle of pop. These guys were more geek than hoodlum.
But why were they lurking around in the dark in a bookstore?
I watched for a little while and decided that they probably weren't stealing things, or at least they weren't causing damage.
The next morning I mentioned what I'd seen to one of the store's employees.
Did you know there's Dungeons and Dragons group that meets on friday nights at the bookstore?
*edit to add: or maybe it's "magic, the gathering" *
