Watch Out For Bats.

I got home from watching Hulk with the tanleekenggg and Quynh and decided to get an ice-cream from McD's. So I grabbed the apple I'd left in my car and started walking, munching on my way. It was 11.45pm. It was quiet.

At the traffic light down the street, I stopped to wait for the light to change, and a man approached from across the street to my right. I glanced over.
African descent. Shorter than I am. More lightly built. Wearing a windbreaker. Didn't have his face concealed in the hood. Hands in pockets, but didn't look like he was holding anything concealed, or if he did, it was small. Didn't look too disheveled or dirty.
All the same, I guessed he was probably homeless, crazy, or both. He didn't seem threatening, so I ignored him and gave my attention to my most excellent (and by now half-eaten) apple.

As he got nearer, he muttered 'Watch out for bats.'
I looked up at him for a second. Had that been addressed to me, or was he talking to himself? Either way, I shrugged in reply and ticked the 'crazy' box in my mental list.

The light changed and I started to cross. He started to cross with me. I wasn't much bothered; I was confident I could defend myself if he tried anything, but I did wonder what he was up to.
I finished crossing and continued on towards McD's.
He kept pace.
By now I'd finished my apple and was looking around for a dustbin. I got quite caught up in my search and partially forgot about my mysterious friend.
Then he stepped a bit closer and said 'Excuse me.'
Ah, I thought. This is the part where he asks for money, or asks for the time to see if he can distract me enough to catch me off guard. I ticked the 'homeless' box in my mental list. I also noted that his tone was more polite. He hadn't said anything like 'Excuse me' when he was muttering about bats.
'Yes?' I said.
'Can I have that fruit?'
That completely DID catch me off guard.
'This?' I held up the tiny apple core.
'Yes.'
I considered offering him a meal at McD's, but decided against it, at least until I found out more. 'It's just a core. Why would you want that?'
'There's a fruit bat following me.'
Again I was stumped, but then the tick in the 'crazy' box on my mental list knocked me on my head and said 'Don't bother trying to understand!'
I shrugged and said 'Here you go.', and gave it to him.
'Thank you.'
I considered asking him to show me the bat, but decided not to since I knew there wasn't really any bat, and I didn't want him to get agitated.
'So why is there a fruit bat following you?'
He held up the apple core and nodded at it.
'Because of that?'
He nodded gravely.
In my head I was screaming 'THAT MAKES NO SENSEEEEE, I JUST GAVE THAT TO YOU! CAN'T YOUR DELUSIONS AT LEAST FOLLOW A LOGICAL SEQUENCE?! YOU CAN'T SAY YOU WANT THE CORE BECAUSE IT'S FOLLOWING YOU, AND IT'S FOLLOWING YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE CORE!'
Out loud, I said 'Ah...'.

I started walking towards McD's again. He walked a little way more, then stopped following.

I bought an ice cream, started eating, and headed towards home again.
My mysterious friend was coming from the other way towards me.
I noted that he had both his hands in his pocket again and was no longer carrying the apple core. I also recalled that he'd stopped following me at the bus stop, and figured he must have stopped to sit down and eat what little flesh there was on the core I'd given him.

I gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
'Thank you, sir.' he said, quite seriously.
'Sure.' I replied.

I watched him enter McD's, and guessed that he probably had at least enough money to buy a small meal.

I continued on home.