There's an adage that goes "The face is the mirror of the soul", which, imo, quite often rings true, and it certainly did in this case.

This kind of thing can happen anywhere, be it the city, suburbia, or rural areas. Come to think of it, I still recall at least a couple of creepy encounters of my own, which although they both happened years ago, remain as vivid in my mind as if they'd happened only yesterday.

One incident occurred many, many years ago, in broad daylight, in the idyllic old hometown west of Boston that I grew up in: I was on my way to a neighbor's house down at the other end of the street from me. On the way down to my friend's house, I saw a black car drive past me, in the opposite direction, stop several hundred yards away, get out of the car, and expose himself, putting some sort of baby powder or whatever onto his crotch. I didn't tell my friend or her family, but I did tell my family later, when I got home. I was still a pre-teen, and it was kind of shocking to see.

Another wierd encounter occurred 26 years ago, while I was a graduate student at Boston University.
I'd been working very late in the studio and was on my way home. It was late enough so that the T had stopped for the night, I was hard up on cash, so I couldn't afford a cab, so I started to walk home, at around 1 a. m. (I was living in Brookline, near Coolidge Corner back then). I walked up Commonwealth Avenue, then I turned onto the street where I was then living.

No sooner had I turned onto that particular street, then I noticed a young Caucasian (white) male in a
navy-blue hooded sweatshirt, with a shock of mousy-brown hair following me. To see whether or not the guy was really following me, I then crossed over to the other side of the street. Sure enough, he, too, crossed over to the other side of the street. I knew then that a nasty situation was in the offing, and that I had to keep cool and aware.

Not wanting to give the guy who'd been following me the satisfaction of knowing where I lived, I decidd to go onto another, nearby residential street. I turned around--and sure enough--the guy was still following me!! I said, in a loud voice "What the fuck do you want?" The guy said "Nothing" , and made a relatively hasty retreat. I ran all the way back to the place where I was living. Whew!!