A week or two ago – at about 1 in the morning – I was returning from a night walk in nearby Mt. Tabor Park. Everything had felt sweet and peaceful up on the mountain. But a block or so from my home, I suddenly heard, close by, a threatening roar that sounded like: “RAAAHHH!”

Instantly I identified it as a female voice … and also as a contrivance. That is, the aggressiveness in it felt forced, unreal, like some sort of mean children’s game, though of course it shocked and frightened me.

I didn’t even see her right away but I instinctively cried out: “Why are you trying to scare me??” Strangely, I think my feelings were hurt. As if I felt more like crying than running.

She called out, from just across the street, “I wasn’t trying to scare you! I was …[unintelligible words] … reverse psychology …[more unintelligible words].”

I didn’t see her face, just her black hair and what may have been a leather jacket. I kept walking.

“Sorry!” she shouted.

I kept walking.

About five seconds later she shouted out again, louder: “SORRY!”

I called back: “You’re forgiven! Goodnight!”