10. The problem with yoga books
I am a 22 year old male, I live in a pretty weird part of Sydney, not overly dangerous but a lot of druggies and weirdos who can really creep you out late at night, which is when this took place of course. I’d just got off the train and started my 10 minute walk home, it was cold and it was late, almost midnight, so I was moving quick to get home. I was catching up to this guy who was dressed in a big bomber jacket and was singing to himself, I just figured he was another local odd ball, and kept walking along next to him wishing i’d remembered my headphones because his singing was shit.
Him and I walked along about a meter or two apart, and at some point a woman about my age came out of a side street carrying a bunch of books. We were all walking together in a nice awkward sort of situation as this guy sung, when suddenly he piped up and said to the girl in a creepy raspy voice “Excuse me, but why are you carrying a book about Bikram Yoga?” The girl responded politely that she was studying to be a yoga instructor, the guy stated he was in fact a yoga instructor, and they struck up a slow and slightly uncomfortable conversation.
Initially I was just relieved he wasn’t talking to me. I am not a ‘tough guy’ at all, and confrontations freak me out so I was glad I didn’t have to speak to him. I kept walking just ahead of them though, and In listening to their conversation I did begin to notice that the guy seemed to know very little about yoga, and as they continued to talk, his questions got stranger, asking what she was up to, if she lived with friends or alone. I decided to walk a bit slower, so I stayed close to them in case anything went wrong or the guy tried anything. I had no idea what i’d do if push came to shove, I just felt it was the right thing to do.
So this all went on for another five minutes or so and I was getting close to my street. The girl was obviously uncomfortable and just wanted the conversation to end. I was almost at my corner, and feeling my job as a “gentleman” was done I decided to just take one look over my shoulder before I left them. I looked over my shoulder and stopped mid-stride. The guy was walking with the girl on his right, and in his left hand, obscured from her view, he was holding a knife. I stopped and stood there like an idiot. There was no one else around just us three now standing still, and the guy looked at me and shook his head, giving me a “just walk away buddy” kind of look, with anger in his eyes. Then I almost jumped when I heard a car horn, and I looked across the street to see a parked dark blue car with a man in driver’s seat, he too was shaking his head at me, with that sort of look that said “get out of here before something bad happens”. This was a joint effort, and thinking back I can remember car headlights following us for most of this, I just hadn’t taken any note of it. It seems this was a joint effort by the two creepers
My heart was racing, and there I was standing in between this completely fucked up situation it seemed like I was the only thing preventing this rape/kidnapping or whatever from going down, and I with nothing resembling a weapon I felt very very useless indeed. Not a word had been said so far, and in my terror my mind flashed to something I once read about what you should do if you’re attacked by a bear.I guess it was flight or fight and I picked fight, I raised my arms up to try to look bigger and starting screaming like an animal, I must have seemed completely deranged, but I got right up in the guy’s face and I still don’t know how this worked but it must have been so shocking that he just bolted, ran to the car and got in sped away, all of it happening in the space of 10 seconds or so.
After that, we called the police, the girl thanked me profusely, but after all of this I couldn’t even remember what the guy looked like, nor the number plate of the car. I just couldn’t believe how fortunate it all was, I’d forgotten my headphones so i could hear the exchange, the fact I turned around for one last look, and that the whole screaming and waving my arms around actually worked. I shudder to think what could have happened to the young yoga student if everything didn’t work out.
