I had a really strange encounter while walking the gal pal this morning. I’ve lived in the city my entire life; there isn’t much I haven’t seen or heard.  It’s not often that I’m left rattled. People who talk to themselves on the streetcar? Easily ignored by turning up the volume on my ipod. People on street corners announcing the second coming of Jesus? A quick walk across the street and they’re forgotten about. This morning’s incident was odd because I felt like I couldn’t shake the woman.

The pup’s and my walk started off well enough; it wasn’t until we were on our way back home that we came across a woman walking her dog too. At first, she was very apprehensive about our two dogs making contact. She said that her dog gets excited easily and asked that I get the gal pal to sit to show her dog that it was okay to approach. Fine, no big deal, I think that sniffing other dogs while out is part of the fun of a walk.

The dogs sniffed each other and the gal pal quickly had enough and started walking away. I started to walk too but the woman was like, “Oh, would you mind staying just a minute more, I’d like to see them spend some more time together.” I was going to be home today because of the air conditioner installation so I wasn’t in a real big hurry.

The next thing I knew, she was talking and talking, never finishing one sentence before starting another. She looked ‘normal’ enough with her red hair cut above her shoulders and her summery, hippie type dress and sunglasses. Once she got talking, all sense of normalcy evaporated. Her tale went something like this:

“I can’t imagine life without my dog, I’ve had her for three, no make that four years this coming July. I was in Calgary last week and I had been in Calgary just before I got her. When I flew back home, my friend who breeds dogs – she works at Woodbine with the horses – rescued my dog and gave her to me. My dog’s really dependent on me and I can imagine why that is; she’s a rescue and is worried about being left alone. I know I shouldn’t encourage it, having her follow me from room to room, but I can’t help it. I know a thing or two about being rescued, while I was in Calgary last week, I was in the hospital for four days because I forgot to refill my prescription…”

At that, I said to her that I had to go, I had to get to work. I thought she’d take the hint and carry on her merry little way; which was opposite of where I had been headed.

“Oh! I’ll walk with you so our dogs have more time together.” It was then that I started to get a bit freaked out. I didn’t want this woman following me home and knowing where I lived. I tried to think of escape routes, different streets to take to shake her loose. While I kept thinking of ways to lose her, she kept babbling on.

“I’ve been gardening at the co-op, but they don’t really pay which isn’t right because I’m on a fixed income and I need to show them that I can earn money. And they don’t really see the value that a nice garden can bring. My name’s Sharon, by the way, what’s yours?!”

I hesitated for a minute and then told her my name was Liz. After that, I knew I definitely didn’t want her knowing where I lived. Knowing my name was enough.

We came to an intersection and I quickly walked ahead and said, “Well this is me. You have a good day,” while I hauled ass away from her. The gal pal hadn’t really been paying attention to the other dog that had suddenly joined our walk but she seemed to notice my sense of urgency as we practically sped walked home.

“You have a good day too Liz!” Sharon shouted as she faded into the background. I turned back a few times to see if she had continued walking behind me. I caught a glimpse of her once and quickened my pace. Before going inside the house, I had one last look around and then went inside.

“Holy hell,” I said to S as she was coming down the stairs. “I just had the craziest fucking experience.” I explained to her about the woman and described what she looked like. S later told me that on her way out, the woman was walking up our street talking to herself and dragging her dog along for the ride.

I sincerely hope that she does not become a regular fixture in our morning walk. I won’t have any qualms about creating a new walking route.

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