Potential

     I had one of those moments tonight that might have been a brush with something terrible ... or might have been nothing at all.  I keep thinking it over, and I can't decide. 
     After work, I went to physical therapy.  I've mentioned in a previous post that I've been dealing with back pain.  My doctor is unwilling to prescribe pain medication at this point, preferring instead for me to go to physical therapy and then talk about it again in February.  The therapist is in a fairly large office building with a T-station on the back side.  There's a parking lot behind the station for the building.  It's not particularly well lit.  You walk from the parking lot, through a chain-link fence opening, then a 30 foot walk to the T-station.  It's about 75 feet or so through the station and then on to the building entrance.
     When my session was over, I was walking quite gingerly but trying not to look like a little old lady.  I had my purse tucked underneath my left arm. I exited the building, walking through a small pass through into the subway station.  There were just a few people ahead of me, and I noticed a young man, probably in his mid-twenties looking at his phone and walking towards the turnstiles.  As I walked past him, my eyes were straight ahead on the door in front of me.  In an instant, I saw his reflection turn around and head in my direction.  I remember thinking it was an odd move.  I also remember thinking that this may not be good.
     I knew I couldn't move faster, so I thought confront it head on.  I pushed opened the door, turned and held it open for him to walk through.  I looked him in the face and said, "After you, sir."  With the door still propped open, I slid my hand into my purse and grabbed my keys.  Meanwhile, he walked two or three steps further then stopped and turned back towards me.  At that moment, a woman with three kids walked past us towards the parking lot.  I stepped right in behind her kids, walking far too close to them.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him turn again and head off in the opposite direction.  When we got to the chain-link opening, she continued walking and I veered off into the lot.  Glancing back, I couldn't see him anymore.  I hustled to the car, got in and left quickly.
    It could have been nothing at all, or it could have been something rather unpleasant.