10.18.22 Tuesday, October 18, 2022.
A Strange Encounter
Today I had an odd encounter with a guy who goes by the name “Metal”. He made a lot of claims I found to be rather dubious. He also told me I should leave Martinsburg. It all started while taking Poppy for a walk. I left around 1-ish PM. Poppy kept putting her snoot on my lap, so I said okay, let’s go for a walk. We come out onto the road behind the house. We start walking our usual direction, towards the main road, Mall Drive. In the distance I see someone walking towards me and Poppy but couldn’t yet tell if it was a man or woman. As we got closer I see that it is a guy, about 6’2” or so tall with long, semi curly, if a bit thin, brown hair, with black pants, a dark brown pullover fleece, and black Addidas(?) shoes. He told me at one point he usually wears two pairs of socks and folds on over to stay warm. He also seems to only have teeth on his lower right jaw, the rest appeared to be missing. His fingernails were rather rough, a bit long, and discolored a brownish-beige color. Poppy came right up to him and he pet the Poppy. He didn’t seem threating and wasn’t. He was however a little too friendly. He went on to talk my ear off for a good 10-15 minutes. He told me he has something like 10 or 15 cats. Maybe it wasn’t that many, but I remember it being a lot. I do remember specifically that he said at one point he had 25 dogs and 1 cat, Mr. Kitty. Mr. Kitty beat up all the dogs, at least according to Metal. If they get ear mites use sweet oil and dab it on behind their ears. The last time he saw Mr. Kitty the cat came and laid on his lap, bit him on the nose, hopped down and he was never seen again. If this seemed to be told in a weird order, well, that is how Metal told it to me.
He asked my name at one point, I told him Rob. I’m not giving my (real) name out to some rando. We shook hands and he said his name was called Metal. He asked if I was from around here, and he had this sort of quizzical look. I said no, and so he proceeded to tell me quite a lot of things, many of which I just don’t believe. He told me how they tore down the mall here in 2016. He said this place is going down hill. “It used to be rockin’ in 1997 and 1999”.
He asked if I was married and I said no. He asked if I had been before to which I also replied no. He said don’t ever. He claims if you get a divorce you could lose your job because of going to court. I’m really not sure what he meant by that. I said I used to live in Georgia and he asked if we got hit by the tornado. I asked what tornado. He called it Ivan. I’m pretty sure he was referring to the recent Hurricane Ian. I told him previously that I had moved here about 6 months ago. Ian was last month.
He also seems to have an interesting perspective on the police around here. He said that if you are too loud it can be considered assault or obstruction. He claims that the police can break down your door and arrest you, and when you ask why he says they will “tell you in a minute”. He said homeless folks will get drunk and try to sleep on your porch. According to Metal, if you come out and try to run them off (with a gun), the police will pin you to the ground and detain you, but let the homeless guy go. Apparently, this is common and will likely happen here. We must be lucky because I’ve seen nothing of the sort. He says the city is trying to change (or something to that effect), and that basically the police are running folks out. Metal also tells me that the city has been putting up cameras all over the place. I will need to see how true that really is. He also said it is a good thing Poppy isn’t vicious. He says the police will tell you if you don’t control your dog, they’ll just shoot it. That seems like an excessive use of force. He also said that if the cops come to your place, the whole department (he said something like that) will come out. They’ll not let you leave, you can’t smoke a cigarette. Then he did this thumb twiddling motion. I guess he meant that a bunch of cops will come out because they’re bored? I do remember when my folks came up in June the police stopped at a house two over from us and heard them on the bull horn yell “Come out or you’re going to jail”. I have no idea what that was about. The same house had the police there the other night. One cop was already there, and then we saw a second cop show up. They were there for maybe 30 minutes? Evictions can come at any time here. “The landlords” can kick someone out by claiming the tenant didn’t pay their rent. Then you’ll have only 10 days to get out. 40 people, allegedly, got kicked out this summer. And when something breaks, “the landlords” will take 3 to 4 millennia to get to it. You better just fix it yourself. So he says.
Metal tells me there are some racist police on the force here. I’m pretty sure there are on every police force. He said he sees past color. We may all look different on the outside, but we’re all the same on the inside. I do agree with that. Metal said that he is originally from Maryland. He has a habit of jumping around to different topics like they’re being drawn from a hat every other minute or so. He says people can take their racism and go to another planet and try to start a civilization there with it. Then something about if it works he’ll come see? I believe he meant something along the lines of “I’ll believe it when I see it” or something like that.
He says that he doesn’t drink or do drugs. He said he doesn’t drink because you’re just gonna look dumb and you’ll do something and not remember it but they (the police again) will have it on camera. He also said he doesn’t do drugs. “Having a needle in your arm isn’t a cool fashion statement” he says. I agree, but I don’t think all drugs come in a liquid and are administered by way of needle. Metal says that he is a sword fighter and he has been for 42 years. He also claims to be 42. When he told me that said that he doesn’t look like it, does he? I said no, he doesn’t. Maybe he didn’t realize that it could be taken the other way, as in he looked like he was in his mid 60s. His face is wrinkled and wizened. My old boss Joe Ivanowski is in his mid 40’s, and he does look it, if not a little younger. Metal does not look young like Joe. My neighbor, who I call Charles, he is 42 or 43. He told me once. Charles looks about in his mid 40s. Metal did not.
Metal also seems to have a strange idea of how tornado alley works. He thinks it is because the water levels are dropping, which causes ‘corrosion’. He meant erosion. I don’t know how that relates to a tornado. He said some people around here think drinking Mountain Dew will make you sterile, and so that’s why they drink Pepsi instead. Mountain Dew is made by Pepsi. He said the cops don’t let people walk on the train tracks. (Rail companies also don’t want you on their tracks for very good reasons.) He said a handful of people have been killed on the tracks. Some have their ear buds in and don’t hear the train. Or some get drunk and fall asleep on the tracks. I’m inclined to believe him on that.
Eventually he finally decided it was time to move on and told me to keep cool. It’s October. It’s a windy day with a high of 53°. I think he meant “stay warm”. Metal said a lot of things. He told me three times that he just wanted to give me a small run down. I’m not sure what he meant by sword fighter, whether it is literal or some kind of metaphor. Google yielded little help in that regard. I’m not sure I believe Metal about his abstinence of drugs or drinking, and I do wonder about his housing situation. A lot of things don’t add up for me.