We arrived at the center about twenty minutes before it opened, and went for a stroll around the grounds while we waited. As we were walking back to the center, a guy walking a couple of dachshunds passed us. He looked a bit odd; his face had a white sheen, almost as if he had suntan lotion covering it, and he was talking to himself. At first, I thought he might be using a phone headset. (BTW, that's one things that bothers me about phone headsets, it's difficult to easily discern who is crazy.)
This guy passed by us, maybe 20 feet away. Moments after he passed, I heard the rush of footsteps, and then my wife shouted. I turned around to see that he had rushed towards us, and then quickly turned and walked away. I thought he might have chased one of the dogs, but as my wife and my friend's wife quickly explained, he had run toward my friend's wife (who was pushing a stroller), and pulled out a knife. It looked as if he was going to lunge at her.
My pal immediately told a groundskeeper at the science center, and he chased down the guy with a cart, and sent him on his way. I suppose we could have called the police, but it just sort of happened and passed pretty quickly. Within a few minutes, we were looking at the exhibits.
Anyway, the incident has come to mind in the past couple of days, and it makes me wonder how many other times I have come close to violence without knowing it.
I’m wondering if anyone else has had some random encounters of that nature.
I know it's not a moment like yours, but still it had a pretty large impact on me. It always reminds me of that Doors lyric: "Indians lay on dawns highway bleeding ghosts crowd a childs fragile eggshell mind"