Soul Searcher

He suddenly appeared one day, I had never seen him before and now I see him every time I have classes. I'm not sure what he does with his time, maybe he is enrolled at the university, but that is the only place I ever see him.

A very tall man, easily in his forties. Balding, almost all the way, dresses badly and wears big glasses. The first time I came across him he was wearing a bright purple jumper, Hawaiian print 3/4 length board shorts, and big hiking boots. He walked past me, awfully closely, much closer than most people do if they have the choice. He stunk, of body odour and dirt. He burped, that stunk of food and body odour and dirt. He proceeded to sit down near me and burped loudly once more, before making a phone call.

I'm ashamed of the way I judge these people before I know what their situation is like, however I did not realise that he wasn't quite right until he began talking on the phone and had an obvious speech impediment. He is loud, smelly, abrupt, obnoxious and does not have a decent sense of personal space, however he does seem like a friendly person. Maybe it is the array of naivety and innocence about him when he interacts with other people.

Another time I encountered the tall man, I walked past him while he was sitting down waiting for a train. He threw his burger wrap onto the train lines and then asked me yelling, "G'day mate, how are you?!". I probably looked offended but quickly replied to him that I was good and asked him how he was, but he was already over the conversation by that stage and didn't respond. Another couple of people soon walked past him and he also stunned them by yelling greetings at them as well.

He was catching the same train as me, and as he stepped on to the train with his bicycle beside him. He made eye contact with a petite young woman whom he must have found attractive, and sat opposite her, unintentionally blocking her in with his bicycle.

"Hello! How are you?!", he said to her loudly.

Looking partly stunned, and taken aback she replied with a quiet "Good. How are you?".

"Yes. I am good. What's your name?" he said abruptly and loudly.

"My name is Katie", she said uneasily.

"It's nice to meet you Katie. You're really, really pretty. Do you have a boyfriend?".

Katie's face dropped, and she did not know how to react. With that, she smiled awkwardly at him and squeezed past his bike and sat next to an older woman at the other end of the carriage.

The man did not seem bothered, and proceeded to make a phone call and yell at the person on the other end of it. He is relatively harmless, but he scares people. He is constantly trying to make friends. Good on him.