Four Chance Encounters in the World

I recently spent most of an hour early on a Sunday evening standing on a corner where two relatively busy streets in Saint Paul intersect.

The two most interesting sets of passersby I saw: 

1) Two parents, ambiguously gendered, walking a leashed miniature Samoyed as their 4-year-old son drove a tiny electric convertible Hummer while wearing a white dress shirt, black tie, and brown shorts.

I really wanted to take a photo of the family, but of course did not. 

2) A guy (I assume it was a guy) wearing a Scream mask, driving a red crotchrocket motorcycle. He sat across from me at the signal, revving his engine, for an uncomfortable length of time as far as I was concerned. I thought he would run the light, but he didn't. When it finally turned green and he roared away, I could see that he had a baseball bat strapped across the back of his seat.

I thought about calling the non-emergency cop number, and if I'd gotten his plate number, maybe I would have because what the heck? Was he going to softball practice wearing a Scream mask... or planning to bust some windows?

I also experienced:

A guy who yelled out the window of his car to me, "Fuck Trump and fuck the Jews!" So that was unexpected, and obviously disconcerting.

There was also a somewhat older, maybe somehow disabled guy on an Army-green ebike who went behind me on the bike path. As he passed, he said, "Yeah I agree with you. [Referring to the No Kings sign I was holding.] That's why we left Europe." I acknowledged him. 

As he rode out onto the street, he called back, "It's why I don't pay taxes anymore. You can't tell where they go" — or something like that.

20 minutes or so later, he came back past in the other direction and commented again about how he doesn't have to pay taxes anymore, and how you can't tell where the money goes. 

Whatever, man. If you aren't paying taxes and you're supposed to be, you're playing a dangerous game. It's pretty much only the rich who get away with it in the long run. And definitely don't go bragging about it to random people when you're out in public. 

On the other hand, if you don't need to pay taxes because your income is low enough that you don't need to file, that's fine, but don't say it's because we can't tell where the money goes. It's because you're poor. 

I still wish I had a photo of the family with the Hummer-driving kid wearing a tie.