This afternoon I was parked behind the library, reading. A woman came over the short fence separating the library from the apartment complex next door. She was very enthusiastic about my camper and wanted to take a look. I know I’m paranoid, but most of the time I have decent reason to be. I let her look at the outside while we discussed places to shower, food stamps, and the benefits one could use while being homeless.

I never did let her look inside though. It just wasn’t a good idea. it makes me sad but I’ve had enough experience with my own mother stealing my belongings (even if she didn’t know what they were for) to trust someone who actually has a reason to steal.

She offered to get me a glass of ice from her apartment, she said she lived in the complex next door. I thanked her and waited about 15 minutes for her to come back. When she hadn’t come back by that time I felt that it was okay to go ahead and move to a different location. If/when I run into her again it won’t be difficult to tell her that someone had been nosing around and I thought it was time to leave, I didn’t want to stay in one place too long.

I’m not sure if my feeling was justified or not, but I’ve had better results more often from trusting my gut than I’ve had from ignoring it. I’m not saying that she was up to no good, I don’t think she had active theft on her mind at the time. But, as my parents taught me, you don’t require more than the creature is capable of; you don’t give them the opportunity to do something that would cause you harm. People are creatures of opportunity, sudden impulses; sometimes these traits are useful, more often they are traits that need to be accounted for with planning and clear thoughts.