August 2, 2011
As I was walking back to Barre tonight, I saw a guy with dark hair, long pants and a grey t-shirt that said “Mountain Dew” on it standing by the side of the road.
(As I'm writing this @ 10:10 p.m. the ex-Marine is lying in his cot a few feet away, doing the cough/grunt routine. I was signed up for 10:00 p.m.. This is the common area. He has a cot in the common area. He turned out the lights in here a few minutes before 10:00 pm and then lay on the cot to begin his routine.)
I saw the guy and walked past him. He started walking behind me. I turned around and looked at him. Then I let him pass by me. There was a small area with trees and some grass between where I had passed by him and the next set of businesses.
(More coughing by the ex-Marine as I write this. When I got back to the shelter tonight, his girlfriend was wearing the shirt that has a big fish on it that she was wearing the first day she was here.)
The guy by the road went into the grass and wandered around there for a few minutes. When I saw that he was stalling, I turned around and went back the other way for a few hundred yards. Then I waited until he was past the trees and I couldn't see him anymore.
I then continued in my original direction, where I had been going when I saw him and he'd started to walk behind me
(Another cough/grunt by the ex-Marine @ 10:14 p.m.)
I went to the other side of the street, because I didn't know if he'd gone among the trees or continued on along the road. When I got past the area with trees to where the next set of businesses were, I saw him standing at the edge of the parking lot of the next business. He saw me and crossed the street to be on my side of the street.
I went to the other side of the street, into the business whose parking lot he'd just been in. I saw him go into the business (they're both gas stations) that was across from where he'd just been and where I went to in order to use the phone.
I told the cashier that someone was following me and asked if I could call the police. He said I could and gave me the phone. I looked across the street and saw that the guy in the Mountain Dew shirt had only stayed in the other gas station for a minute and was walking back out again.
I called 911 and, after I got the dispatch person to understand that, no, he hadn't followed me into the store right away but that he had been waiting for me and was following me, I got to talk to a police officer. I think that the Barre police were at first going to show up at the gas station and talk to me, but I asked if they'd just drive up and down the part of the road where I was a couple of times. I figured that would be enough, and that if I saw the guy again and he seemed threatening or kept following me, I 'd tell him that I'd talked to the police and given them his description.
While I was waiting to talk to a police officer, I went back into the store from the parking lot and said to the cashier, "I'm sorry to be keeping your phone busy like this." He had his back to me and didn't answer. I thought he hadn't heard me, and then I saw him rub his nose while he was halfway turned back to me.
Then he finally turned all the way around and looked at me. I repeated my thanks to him that he'd let me use his phone.
About 20 minutes after I'd been walking along the road again, the shelter manager stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. I said "OK." She let me use her cellphone to call the police and tell them that I was going to be driven back to town by someone I knew. I told her that someone had been following me. She told me that when she saw me walking, I looked completely exhausted and as if I could use some relief. Next, she told me that they'd had Sloppy Joes, corn and Oreos for dinner, and that she'd had 4 Oreos, and that there'd also been watermelon. When I got back to the shelter, about 3 more people told me that there'd been Sloppy Joes for dinner before I'd been in the house for 10 minutes. There's now also a little, orange "Caution" shaped road cone being used as a paperweight on the shelf next to the office desk, where people who walk into the office can't miss it. It says "If you have nothing to do, don't do it here," which doesn't really apply to me; I'm still not enamored of it. I don't think it's a nice thing to do.
The shelter manager also told me that the property management company that I'd called and left a message for today had called the shelter's number that I'd given them and said that "they have no apartments available in Montpelier."
Copyright L. Kochman August 2, 2011 @ 10:30 p.m.
As I was walking back to Barre tonight, I saw a guy with dark hair, long pants and a grey t-shirt that said “Mountain Dew” on it standing by the side of the road.
(As I'm writing this @ 10:10 p.m. the ex-Marine is lying in his cot a few feet away, doing the cough/grunt routine. I was signed up for 10:00 p.m.. This is the common area. He has a cot in the common area. He turned out the lights in here a few minutes before 10:00 pm and then lay on the cot to begin his routine.)
I saw the guy and walked past him. He started walking behind me. I turned around and looked at him. Then I let him pass by me. There was a small area with trees and some grass between where I had passed by him and the next set of businesses.
(More coughing by the ex-Marine as I write this. When I got back to the shelter tonight, his girlfriend was wearing the shirt that has a big fish on it that she was wearing the first day she was here.)
The guy by the road went into the grass and wandered around there for a few minutes. When I saw that he was stalling, I turned around and went back the other way for a few hundred yards. Then I waited until he was past the trees and I couldn't see him anymore.
I then continued in my original direction, where I had been going when I saw him and he'd started to walk behind me
(Another cough/grunt by the ex-Marine @ 10:14 p.m.)
I went to the other side of the street, because I didn't know if he'd gone among the trees or continued on along the road. When I got past the area with trees to where the next set of businesses were, I saw him standing at the edge of the parking lot of the next business. He saw me and crossed the street to be on my side of the street.
I went to the other side of the street, into the business whose parking lot he'd just been in. I saw him go into the business (they're both gas stations) that was across from where he'd just been and where I went to in order to use the phone.
I told the cashier that someone was following me and asked if I could call the police. He said I could and gave me the phone. I looked across the street and saw that the guy in the Mountain Dew shirt had only stayed in the other gas station for a minute and was walking back out again.
I called 911 and, after I got the dispatch person to understand that, no, he hadn't followed me into the store right away but that he had been waiting for me and was following me, I got to talk to a police officer. I think that the Barre police were at first going to show up at the gas station and talk to me, but I asked if they'd just drive up and down the part of the road where I was a couple of times. I figured that would be enough, and that if I saw the guy again and he seemed threatening or kept following me, I 'd tell him that I'd talked to the police and given them his description.
While I was waiting to talk to a police officer, I went back into the store from the parking lot and said to the cashier, "I'm sorry to be keeping your phone busy like this." He had his back to me and didn't answer. I thought he hadn't heard me, and then I saw him rub his nose while he was halfway turned back to me.
Then he finally turned all the way around and looked at me. I repeated my thanks to him that he'd let me use his phone.
About 20 minutes after I'd been walking along the road again, the shelter manager stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. I said "OK." She let me use her cellphone to call the police and tell them that I was going to be driven back to town by someone I knew. I told her that someone had been following me. She told me that when she saw me walking, I looked completely exhausted and as if I could use some relief. Next, she told me that they'd had Sloppy Joes, corn and Oreos for dinner, and that she'd had 4 Oreos, and that there'd also been watermelon. When I got back to the shelter, about 3 more people told me that there'd been Sloppy Joes for dinner before I'd been in the house for 10 minutes. There's now also a little, orange "Caution" shaped road cone being used as a paperweight on the shelf next to the office desk, where people who walk into the office can't miss it. It says "If you have nothing to do, don't do it here," which doesn't really apply to me; I'm still not enamored of it. I don't think it's a nice thing to do.
The shelter manager also told me that the property management company that I'd called and left a message for today had called the shelter's number that I'd given them and said that "they have no apartments available in Montpelier."
Copyright L. Kochman August 2, 2011 @ 10:30 p.m.