I love my street. It’s a very active place. Every morning and through most of the day people are running, biking, even roller blading. I didn’t know anyone still did that. I also see a lot of cars or trucks with surfboards on the roof. They count for something. During one ten-minute stretch yesterday I counted 23 people moving by. Of those 23, one bicyclist doesn’t count.

Every street has a nut. Here’s mine. I don’t know his name, not yet. He first comes by at about 7am and wraps up about 8:30am. See the diagram below: 

He starts from the right, or what is actually south, comes north up past my house, then makes a right and goes up a few houses to the left side of that curved street.

There’s a white house up on the left side of that street. He parks his bike in front of the house, sometimes walks it up the driveway to the side. He sometimes goes to the front door and knocks or tries to open it, but nobody ever answers.

 I have only seen a woman around there, but she’s too far away for me to know her age. Sometimes he checks the mailbox. If the lawn sprinklers are on, he seems to inspect them to make sure they’re watering correctly, I guess.

He has a very deliberate stance. He usually stands with his arms behind his very straight back and his head slightly up in a very supervisory pose. He strolls back and forth on the sidewalk and brings in the trash cans should they be out.

After spending about five minutes around that house, he’ll hop back on his bike and head towards my house again. He will usually turn right, or north, go a ways up, then turn back south again across the front of my house. If I’m outside, as I often am with a cup of coffee, he greets me by waving a middle finger. I’m not special, as he does this to anyone who happens to be walking, biking, or just standing around like me.

I haven’t talked to anyone yet about him, not the police or any neighbors, but I don’t think I’m crossing any lines by saying that I want to find out more about him. He might be harmless, and that might be his mother’s house.  And his name might be Norman, and his mom might be Mrs. Bates.  Or, he might be a bit unstable and, therefore, dangerous.