vettecat | Strangers in the night

Recently someone posted to a local list I'm on with a number of items he wanted to give away. One of them was an encyclopedia. I mentioned it to

sdavido, and we agreed that an encyclopedia is always good to have, so I wrote back to the gentleman in question to claim it. He responded that it was still available, so I asked when and where it would be convenient for me to pick it up. Tonight I got a note back from him saying which street he lives on, with his phone number. Intrigued, I called him, and quickly confirmed that he lives around the corner from us. Literally, around the corner and about 4 buildings away. We agreed to meet shortly on the street corner. So I went outside and walked down to the corner. A moment later I saw someone walking down the opposite side toward me, carrying a large book. But when he got to the corner on his side, the light was against him. So we waved to each other, and waited for the light to change, at which point he crossed the street, smiled, and handed me the book. I don't think we had exchanged any words at that point (though we did chat for a few minutes afterward). The scenario of meeting a stranger on a street corner in the dark, and being silently handed a large object, made me think briefly that I should have identified myself with "the raven crows at dawn," or something similar...