My Industrial Education

On Saturday we drove back from Fredericton.  I hate being in the car for long periods of time - it makes me so stiff and irritated.  When we got home, Nick and I took a walk near our house, in the industrial park.  It's a short walk and has a good hill to climb so it's a good way to unwind your muscles after being caged in a car.

All this week I've been busy and decided to do a little something for myself - get some exercise.  So I bundled up and headed out to retrace the route we walked on Saturday.  I huffed my way up the hill and began the flat section that leads downhill and back home.  I could hear a flatbed transport coming along behind me - it's an industrial park, after all.

I have a lots of truckers in my family, both current and retired and I have taken a number of free trips to Montreal and Toronto courtesy of truckers.  So I'm not trashing truckers but this guy really freaked me out.

I was approaching an intersection and kept to my side of the road.  I heard a voice and the driver (whose door said "Levasseur") motioned to me.  I thought maybe he needed directions or he was concerned for my safety, walking in an industrial park.  But at the same time, the Paul Bernardo alarm bells went off in my head and I took only one step closer, to see if he would speak to me.

He didn't.

Instead he motioned again for me to come closer.  I was very confused - I do speak some French and could have understood any basic questions he wanted to ask.  I took one more step and he opened the door to his truck.  Then it hit me that he was trying to a.) solicit me or b.) abduct me.  We didn't debrief so I can't be entirely certain.

I don't know who you are M. Levasseur, or if that's even your name.  But if there's a Mme. Levasseur, I hope she knows who she's married to and what he could be bringing home.

Pretty bad for 9am on a Thursday in a small New Brunswick town.  The whole thing makes me feel a little bit sick.  It makes me wonder how many women this guy has picked up, whether it's consensual or whether he's another violent creep on the loose, and why he would think it's okay to approach a random woman out for a walk.

And it makes me sad for all the wonderful men in my life who would never dream of doing this.  Men like Levasseur give good men a bad name.