More than a week ago I was walking in one of my favorite parks when I started to feel “uncomfortable”.

I like this park because it is along a river and it is on my way home from work. What I don’t like is that pedestrians walk on the street through the park and sometimes there are cars parked on the gravel along the edge of the road. This is only a problem when people sit in their vehicles.

The White Van

On this particular day, as I walked past a small white van, I just had a weird feeling. When I got to the end of the road and turned around, I walked on the opposite side of the road. As I passed it, I noticed the driver’s side window was open and I could see the driver smiling at me. On the surface this is harmless, but something about him made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, the feeling was strong enough that I turned around more than once to be sure I wasn’t being followed.

The street is one way in this part of the park, so I wasn’t too concerned about him following me. The farther away from him I got, the safer I felt. And I didn’t give him another thought.

Heading Home

The return to my car was uneventful. I did a cool down, stretched, got in my car, and pulled out of my parking space. At this point, I had a choice – I could take the exit closest to my parking spot, or drive through the park and exit at the other end. Typically I drive through the park to avoid traffic on the busy street.

As I arrived at the “decision” spot, I had to stop because of a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road. I sat behind it for a minute, distracted by the radio or my water bottle, or something. Finally, I decided to go around.

As I started to pass I looked at the vehicle a little closer and suddenly realized it was a white van. My stomach dropped as I reached the driver’s side window, and there was the same guy – smiling at me!

I drove off, a little faster than the speed limit. He followed me, but let there be some space between us.

At the end of the park, I was stopped by a traffic light and was relieved when I saw him pull in the next lane over. Whew! He wasn’t going to follow me anymore, is what I thought.

Instead, he started talking to me through my open car window. He asked me if I go to the park often. I was so stunned he asked me a question, I answered him! I said, “Yes”. He then asked if I go there every day, and I said, “No”. Finally, some common sense kicked in, and I turned my head. He said something else to me, but I refused to acknowledge him. The light turned green, he waved goodbye, and we both drove off.

Learning from My Mistake

I was a little shaky as I drove home. I was ticked that I had not noticed his license plate number and that I had talked to him. (I’m sure it was habit and shock that he had talked to me.) And I was extremely relieved that he was no longer following me!

My knee-jerk reaction was to say I’d never walk there again. Well, that isn’t quite right – I really like walking there! I didn’t want him to win.

After I had time to think about it, I decided to drive through the park about that time for several days to see if I could find him. And if he is there, get his license plate number and alert the police who patrol that park.

So far, I have not found him. After more than a week of not walking there, I finally went back. But I changed my route to walk toward the police hub in the park and to stay where there are more people and lots of moving vehicles.

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