Kwento Ni Nanay

Followed and Watched us

This incident occurred about 11 years ago and involved 4 people: my sister (10), my cousin (10), his sister, Kait (12), and me (12).

It was a "half-day" at school, so we got out at around 11:30 and walked to a pizza place about three blocks from my house. I know a lot of parents these days wouldn't let kids our age walk around town without supervision, but we lived in a pretty small, tight-knit community.

Anyway, when we left the pizza place, I noticed an older guy, maybe in his 50s or 60s standing outside the door. I really only noticed him because he looked unkept (e.g., stained, oversized white shirt and baggy sweats) and we didn't have many homeless people around town back then. I didn't really give him a second thought, and we stopped into the corner store for some candy/snacks... But then he was waiting outside that store, too. I lingered a bit to let my younger sister and cousin walk ahead so I could keep and eye on them (something one of my older sisters taught me).

Kait had the same suspicion I did, so we decided to test it. We deliberately stopped walking as he was crossing the street, and he stopped dead in his tracks, looking casually away when we turned to look at him. So this was one of those "shit" moments: We knew this guy was following us, but we didn't know what to do. We didn't want to walk home, especially since I only lived with my mom. We also didn't have cellphones.

We walked down our block, and of course he followed, which was another "shit" moment. So we decided to separate to knock on a couple of our neighbors' doors. One of our friends answered, but his parents weren't home, so he invited us into his backyard to play. While we were back there playing, this guy stood out front and just watched us... waiting.

Finally, this kid who lived next door came by the backyard, and we went with him to tell his dad what was up. His dad came out to talk to this guy (who was standing in front of his house now), and their conversation went something like this:

Kid's dad: Hey, what are you doing out here?
Guy: I live in this house points to the dad's house
KD: No, you don't. I own this house.
Guy:
KD: Why don't you get out of here. I don't wanna see you around here again or I'll call the cops.

The guy went on his way, and we finally went home to tell my mom what happened.

I saw him a few weeks later at a local boardwalk concessions place. I don't remember if he saw me, but nothing happened. I'm not sure what his plan was. There were four of us, then six when we went into the backyard. Maybe he was waiting for one of us to separate from the group? Maybe he just enjoyed watching little kids? I honestly don't know if I want to know and, guy who followed us home.