Aren’t you tired of swiping in the hopes of running into a specific someone you have an existing, lingering curiosity about? Here’s your chance to be brave—to take the active route instead of the passive one. Let’s connect again. (Entries may be minimally edited for clarity.)
Check in From Outside Hank’s
It was a Friday or Saturday night in late September. I was biking home down Port St. You were sprawled out in the street by Hank’s next to your bike—I couldn’t tell if you had gotten hit by a car or biked into a pot hole in the dark. You were kind of semi-coherent. I dearly hope that you were drunk and didn’t hurt your head in the fall. You repeatedly refused any help, but I still feel like I should have done more for you. One cyclist to another, I’d love to know that you’re OK.
Here’s to a friendship possibility—
You showed up right before we drove off. We were the last car in a row on Burgundy, engine just switched into drive, when you pulled up beside us. Luckily for someone other than us, the driver was unusually friendly.
You had a serious grievance about a phone you’d lost two nights before—a phone with eight years of pictures. I thought it was incredible that you even had a way to track down a vehicle on the fly at 3 a.m. on a Monday night. It was unfortunate that the driver didn’t realize how impossible that really was. Our car had no signage, nothing to suggest it was an Uber. And you didn’t stop for that reason either—your first question was, “Are you an Uber?” You could’ve asked, “Are you an easy target?” and it would’ve had the same effect.
That two- or three-minute conversation rattled on like a rusty tailpipe. One of us in the back even joked they’d want a full refund if that man was allowed to climb in and search the car. But eventually, the driver decided the show must go on. We sent him off into the night in his dusty, deep-blue Tahoe with the broken tail light.
A heavyset, bearded man with a fair complexion—he had all the makings of a teddy bear-like friend. Maybe if circumstances were different, we would’ve gotten to know each other on a more personal level. Maybe that phone of yours really was under the seat all along. Or maybe we were just a bit too short for the story to finish differently.
Kind High School Acquaintance
You were working brunch at an Uptown spot on Saturday November 15 (not naming names because I don’t want to possibly get you in trouble). I was having an awful morning, and you recognized me from high school, and I responded in a daze. We didn’t know each other well in high school, but you applied your employee discount for me and kept it moving. It really made my morning and kept me from falling into a deeper pit of despair than I was already in. I thought about going back and saying something but y’all were slammed and didn’t want to draw attention. But I hope you see this and know you made my day!
Submit your own close encounter to closeencounters@antigravitymagazine.com or through our new ANONYMOUS Google form. All email addresses will remain confidential. Don’t be a creep.
illustrations by Maegen Guidroz
