My original stalker has been a pain in the ass for over 40 years. One time, back in the day, before Rebecca Schaeffer got killed, before we understood what stalkers were, my husband and I thought that I should just go meet the guy for coffee or a drink and tell him I was happy and had a lovely life and thanks for this one little trip down Memory Lane and good-bye. Duh...that only encourages them.
And, he not only has a gun, but a badge to go with it. But again, back then especially, who are the cops gonna believe...an ex-girlfriend/ex-employee or a current cop in good standing. You know, I just look like this, but I'm too bright to try to paddle up that stream.
This went on FOR.FREAKIN'.EVER. My hero and I married in 1973. In the mid-1980s we moved out of state. And then he found THAT new phone number. And my husband worked a ten-day-on, four-day-off schedule...but the ten days were usually out of state. Interestingly enough, I was more afraid that the ******* would show up while my husband was in state and he'd go all macho on me and blow the jerk to pieces with his handy shotgun.
The calls stopped...sometimes for over a year at a time...and then the random ******* would strike again. It got to the point that I finally told one of his (by then) former co-workers. When there's a retiree gathering, that friend finds out if he's going to be there and warns me. Less than five years ago...keep in mind that it's a long way from 1973 to 2009, so five years isn't forever, my husband and I stopped in Eastern Oregon to visit another former co-worker of mine and his family. He posted to a retiree site that we had visited and in a few hours the guy posting that info had received an email and a phone call asking him how to contact me...creepy alert..."just to hear her voice." He told the stalker that he had only my hotel phone number and had no idea how to contact me. The day we visited, I told the eastern Oregon guy that one of the guys was a problem, but didn't name him. The next day, he said, "Well, so much for taking the high road, Dear...I believe that my keen police mind has discovered who your stalker is."
And so it has gone.
The last call WAS a while back. After that last call, I called the local law enforcement agency where he lives now. I asked the watch commander to help me...and him...out. I said something like, "Do you think you could tell this guy that you think you talked me down...I was asking about protection while in town to file criminal charges against a retired cop...that I told you I have phone records that will prove my case...that it's going to be messy and involve his ex-co-workers, because you apparently call her while you are in Southern California for retiree gatherings, and his wife probably won't be thrilled because, at the very least, she'll be embarrassed and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees poorer, even if you get the charges reduced or dropped."
He said he would do that. And we haven't had a call since then...so far anyway.
But he's old, his liver is probably beyond help and he really should just die now. No, really. It's time. Most of his former co-workers can't believe he's survived this long.
This other guy...I kind of think he will go away. It's a shame he is SOOOO fond of me. He's not doing anything creepy, other than the constant visits to the classmate.com site. I know his wife is quite a bit older...it's probably just the two of them and he's likely lonely in a normal old people kind of way. There are not a lot of overt attempts at contact...one email with humorous stories about the place where he worked, a forwarded email that WAS funny and the Valentine card. If I recall, he MAY be just a geeky, awkward guy. I'm not sure yet.
