I'm Not Dead Yet!

But I have been away from my blog for a little while lately. It's mostly a disenchantment with my computer thing....and nothing worth going into. Instead, I'll tell you a little story. The other day I drove over to PG Plaza to get some things at Traget, and then to the Home Depot for a new rake. Afterwards, I drove into Hyattsville and grabbed a burger at an A&W there--the only one I know of in the area. They make a descent bacon cheese burger, not something that I indulge in more than a couple of times a year, but I was jonesing for one. To give me time to eat it in my truck, I drove into DC on Rhode Island Avenue. Around Fort Totten, in the Chillum neighborhood, I started to make my way back towards home.

At this point I turned into what appeared to be a neighborhood of circa 1970's ranch homes, just west of the metro line. It was midday, and the place was basically deserted. In an effort to navigate my way to North Capitol Street, I found myself thwarted by various dead ends, but kept exploring as I continued to move north out of the District.

At one street I noticed ahead of me a slothenly dressed African American man in his late 20's standing at the curb and bouncing an old basket ball. He had a baseball cap on his head, and a narly trenchcoat covered most of the rest of his attire. As I approached him he grabbed onto the basketball and held it until I was right about to pass him, at which point he bounced it directly in front of my truck. Given the fact that he seemed so out of place, and so focused on me, it didn't surprise me, and neither did I respond to it. I just ran the damn ball over! The height of my truck cleared it with no trouble, and it's age and lack of bounce kept it on the street surface.

In my rearview mirror, I saw the guy step into the street in my wake and give me an earnest shoulder shrug and half-hearted outstretched hands in a gesture that seem to say, "What the Hell?" And I thought, "What the Hell, indeed!"

Was I supposed to slam on my breaks to avoid hitting the ancient ball that HE tossed in front of me? I have no proof of his intentions, only the nagging intuition that he was trying to stop me for some nefarious purpose.