You know, at this point in my life, I should no longer be shaken by oddity in the world. I mean, in my few years on the planet, I've seen a lot of weird sh*t.
But still, life can wallop me with a new one.
This weekend, The Good Man and I were out and about, coming home from an early dinner when we turned a corner on a quiet street near the county hospital. As we crested a small hill in our mild suburban neighborhood, we saw a man walking determinedly up the street wearing a hospital gown with ill fitting tighty-whities hanging out the back (thank god he was wearing them). His plastic hospital bracelet was flapping in the breeze and he was padding along in white tube socks, despite the chilly drizzling rain.
Now this disturbed me. Not just because I'm usually loath to view the tighty-whities of a stranger, but when I say this man was "walking determinedly", I mean…WITH A PURPOSE. What purpose, I cannot speculate, but when you see someone walking with that kind of purpose, you figure they are up to something, possibly no good. Add to that visage the hospital gown, aforementioned tighty-whities and the darkening night and you have a freak out factor straight out of all those g'damn horror movies I like to watch.
The Good Man and I had a moment of the "what do we do" conversation. We decided calling 911 was probably too much. So we looped back to the hospital and went inside to tell them one had escaped. They said they were aware of it and really, unless the guy was being held for a 5150, there was little they could do.
Now….I'm a Van Halen fan like anyone else. I know what 5150 means! Has to do with but a psych case. Well, ok, so the good news is that the guy was NOT a 5150, right. Ok……
Well, none of this actually made me *feel* any better.
However, as we made our way back home, we turned another corner and AHHHH! There he was again!!
Ok, in truth we saw five police cars and officers standing in the street and what The Good Man and I now dubbed "Underpants Man" standing on the sidewalk holding his gown closed in the back and looking a little wild eyed.
Seeing many of the county's finest should have made me feel better. But it didn't. All evening The Good Man and I were peeking out the kitchen window to see if Underpants Man was standing out there, zombie-like. Purpose in mind.
I tend to think of my little neighborhood as quiet and peaceable. And it is, usually. Normally all the folks at county hospital stay there and allow treatment. And I'm fine with that.
I can't imagine all the things that led up to Underpants Man bolting the hospital.
I hope wherever he is today, he's got dry socks, fresh tighty-whities and feels safe.
And I give thanks for my own clean, dry socks, chones, and The Good Man to keep me safe.
(You know, I usually end my blog posts with a photo of something relevant…and the most relevant was, of course, tighty-whities. But that didn't seem, you know, appropriate. So instead, here is a photo of The Feline asleep on my desk to help us wipe that mental image of Underpants Man out of our collective minds, ok? Isn't she cute?)
