Ok, most of you that come to Rinkchat probably know that I walk to may dad's office from my school on some days. I walk 4 short blocks from school until I reach a park, where I then go down a stairway to a small river vally park. I go through the park until I get to a set of lights. After that, I cross the river by way of a rather long green bridge. Once I past that, I come to a second set of lights. Upon passing those, I start up a hill for one VERY long block, where I come to a third set of stoplights that take FOREVER to change. 2 long blocks later, I'm at the top of the hill. From there, 2 more medium-sized blocks and I'm at my dad's office. It's usually a pretty boring walk that takes from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

Anyway, today wasn't so boring. When I was half way across the bridge, I had that stange feeling that I was being followed for some reason, although I didn't see anyone behind me. At the second set of lights, I saw someone, but didn't think much of it, even though I had that stange, unexplainable feeling. At the third light (the one that takes forever to change color) the guy that I saw behind me caught up. The following is a paraphase of what happened. I can't remember all of it that clearly because the guy mumbled a lot, but I do remember some interesting remarks. A '*' denotes an action and anything in round brackets () denotes what was passing through my head at the time.

Him: Hello.

Me: Uh...Hi...

Him: I was just talking to a lady down there, you know, and I asked her where the bus depot was and she said that it was on Jasper Avenue, which is this way, right?

*Kaz! looks at the sign hanging from the traffic post. It says 97 Ave. Jasper is 101 Ave. Kaz! proceeds to point up the hill.

Me: Yeah, it's about 4 blocks this way

Him: Ok, you seem to know where you're going. I'll just follow you.

*Kaz! tenses up without thinking about it. His left hand forms into a rather tight fist, but still remains on his side.

Me: Uh..ok (The following things pass through my mind: #1 - Who is this guy? #2 - What does he want from me? #3 - Is he hiding something under his jacket? At this time, I'm sorry to say, I was not thinking "This would make for an interesting Rinkworks story", although I did later on.)

Him: (out of the blue, it seems. Or just to start conversation.) I'm from Calgary, you know. This is the first time I've been to Edmonton...[mumble, mumble, mumble] (what's he saying? At this time I start to lose him becasue he begins to mumble, but ever so often I catch a bit.)...yeah, and this is my first time in Edmonton, you know......get paid 24 dollars an hour to do this....[Mumble, mumble] Oh, do you know what time it is?

Me: Yeah. *looks at watch* It's almost 4:30

Him: Oh, it would have to be at least 6:00 in Calgary. I've been here since 10:00 [mumble]

Me: Uh huh. (Uhh...Calgary and Edmonton are only 3 hours away from each other, and most definatly in the same time zone)

Him: (again, out of the blue it seems) Hey, are you planning to enlist in the army? You know, I worked in the army for 4 years

Me: Not really, I --

Him: Yeah, I started when I was 19, but quit when I was 21.

Me: Uh huh. (What? 4 years.... 21 - 19 = 2...am I missing something here?)

Him: [mumble, mumble, mumble] And, you know, I worked 5 of those years as an aircraft pilot.

Me: Really? (Now I'm sure I'm missing something. 5 years flying an aircraft and 4 years in the army, from the age of 19 to 21)

*Kaz! becomes aware that he is all tensed up and now Kaz! begins to watch the other guys hands. Also, Kaz!'s right hand inconspicuasly goes over his school bag, which contains an extremely sharp pocket knife, just in case the situation turns ugly.

Him: Yeah, I flew one of those Blackbirds, you know. Canada, The USA, and Russia were all at war. Yeah, this was in 1974, with Stalin was sending all these Migs and trying to shoot us down with AA guns. With that Blackbird though, it was just like hit the button and BOOM. It was crazy with all those missles blowing up in from of us and on the sides, but the Blackbird just went cruising through those at, like, 300 miles per hour!

Me: Wow. (At this time my former questions 2 and 3 sort of slip from my mind, however question 1 is heavily set into my head. Also, the idea of "This'll made an interesting thing to talk about in Rinkworks" comes up. Other thoughts that passed through my head were: A) In 1974, Stalin was pretty dead I think. B) Assuming Stalin was alive, Russia did not have Migs. They had crappy imitations of the B-21 bomber, which was propeller powered, while the USA had things like the B-41 already, which was jet powered. C) The canadian army never HAD any Blackbirds becasue our military sucks. D)Assuming he did fly a Blackbird, those things cruise at well beyond Mach 2, but have no weapons, just a camera. They were spy planes!)

Him: Yeah, here, take a look at my Military service card.

*He takes his wallet out of his back pocket and rummages through it

Him: Oh F*** I lost it. Well, here, take a look at my Social Security card instead.

Me: Uh...ok. (I didn't really look at it. I was having a hard enough time supressing the urge to burst out laughing)

*At this time we are only one block from my dad's office and stopped breifly at a signal light. He looks around, and points to a small building across and slightly behind my Dad's office.

Him: Hey, you know, that's Chez Pierre. I hear that they have a lot of good naked chicks in there--

Me: (Well, whatever. And you're sure that this is your first time in Edmonton?)

*Get to may dad's office, and feel lucky that I did

Me: Oh, I have to go now. Bye.

Him: Oh, well, I'll talk to you again sometime then. have a nice day now.
_______________________________________

As a board the elevator, go up to the 19th floor, and walk to my dad's office, I gradually untense and just think back, rather relieved that the guy didn't try to kill me or something. The stongest thought in my head at the time wass "Ok, this is probably a candidate for the weirdest true Rinkworks storys ever - may not beat some of Dave's cooking, but it's a candidate"

Me: Hey dad, you aren't going to believe what happened on the way here....

-Ka"Just when I thought I knew Edmonton...."z!