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Encounter
October 6, 2006
I probably should have worn a jacket. It was chilly coming out of my rhetoric class. I reached into my bag, which strained with the weight of my textbooks, and dug for my iPod. I always listened to Hinder and 3 Doors Down during my fifteen minute walk from the university.
I began to follow the familiar route. Throughout campus, there are several narrow cement footpaths which cut through the grass and under the trees, leading to the main perimeter. Very few people were around. As I walked past my favorite buildings, the oldest ones made of pillar and stone, I noticed a boy about ten steps in front of me.
He was tall and his head was shaved. He wore jeans and carried a bookbag which looked tiny on his back, but was probably a normal size. He turned and smiled at me. I looked at him, quizzically, and smiled back. We kept walking.
He kept the same distance in front of me and looked back occasionally as if he heard footsteps and forgot I was behind him.
Does this guy think I’m following him?
We reached the streets. He crossed to the other side and slowed down, walking directly across from me.
I thought I heard him laugh. Did he say something? I discretely turned the sound down on my headphones and looked over. He smiled again. Brightly. He didn’t say anything.
Eventually, he turned and stepped onto the wide porch of a white house. As I continued down the street, I looked back. He did the same. He smiled and waited there until I turned the corner, and I laughed to myself.
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