I had a very strange, very creepy experience yesterday that I’ve been wondering how to write about. Instead of wondering any more, I think I’ll just write.

There’s an Islamic mosque in Culver City that was built under protest from local homeowners. It’s actually a very beautiful marble building, with elaborate inscriptions that I believe are excerpts from the Koran.

Some of the people who visit this mosque, however, have the annoying and dangerous habit of hanging out in the street that passes by, paying no attention to the traffic. On the rare occasions when I drive past there I use extra care, because more than once there have been people in the road unexpectedly, sometimes in the dark of night.

So yesterday afternoon I was driving past the mosque when suddenly a man (mid-20s, mid-eastern) came walking very rapidly (almost running) out of the mosque driveway into the street without looking. I started to hit the brakes when he finally noticed me and stopped. It would have been very close if he hadn’t looked up; I don’t know if I could have stopped in time to avoid hitting him.

So I drove on past. Yes, it shook me up a little.

But not as much as looking into the rearview mirror and seeing this guy standing in a policeman’s crouch, pantomiming firing a gun at me. In a way that suggested he had done it before. Two-handed, with a simulated recoil. And then continuing across the street with an air of total unconcern for the person he had just fantasized about murdering.