I just had such an... encounter. I'm not sure what else to call it. But the lyric in my status seems oddly appropriate for both of us.

Who is "us," you ask?

I went outside with my coffee for a cigarette. I went out the back door, which leads to an alley and other buildings' parking lots as well as to the top of the rock my building partially clearly blasted to exist. Just as I step out I hear a rustle behind a tree and see a bike propped up against it. I figure it's probably someone going through all the recycling bins for cans and bottles to return and think nothing of it, start walking down the stairs towards the main parking and a patch of sunshine through the trees. I came out for a quiet moment outside and need my personal space. But I'm approached from above by a ragged young woman protectively holding a framed picture and a notebook. She starts talking about "this place" and how she used to live just down the hill and how she loves drawing landscapes. Half of what she's saying is unintelligible, she's speaking too softly, so when she asks an actual question I have to ask her to repeat it.

"I was wondering if I could maybe come around here a few times a week and clean up a bit, see how the raccoons got into the garbage?" (She points to the bins by the building directly across the alley from us.) "And then maybe I could draw mountains and show you some things? And..."

I'm not entirely sure what she wants out of this potential exchange, if it's just to sit around and draw I don't see why anyone would mind but if it's something else, I'm not the manager of this building and haven't even met the manager, just the owner-landlord, because I just moved in two weeks ago. I explain this to her. She says she's really shy and how hard it is for her to approach people. I tell her I understand, oh do I understand.

She sits down and starts pondering rocks, and how she wants to get back into drawing. I tell her she should. And somehow, we both relax our walls and start to actually talk. About our respective shynesses, about her preferred drawing medium, about mountains, about much. By the time my cigarette is out she is brighter, happier, and speaks with more energy. I tell her this. She tells me she won't come back to this place for a while, but to check back outside and she'll leave me something.

From personal space intrusion to valued exchange in five minutes.