What do guardian angels look like?

I was taking a walk through the park this afternoon. It was a nice day here and tomorrow it might rain, so I wanted to get out and enjoy the day. Most of the trails were rather busy, since other people probably had the same idea as me to get out and enjoy the weather. I decided to follow a rarely used trail that goes around the far side of this pond in the park. I thought it would be a quieter walk that way.

That particular path starts up on top of a hill where the edge of the park is bordered by a busy roadway and bike path. It's a nice view of the pond from there, so it tends to be a spot that gets a lot of visitors. I stopped to take pictures of a Blue Heron that was sharing the pond with a large number of Canada Geese.

I was just about to head off on the quiet path around the pond, when this man walking a black lab stopped me. Looking back at this, it was sort of funny how he seemed to come out of nowhere to block my way. He started talking about the geese and the heron. Nothing all that exciting as far as conversation goes. Mostly just chit chat. I petted the dog while he was talking.

When I thought he was finally on his way, he suddenly got very serious and said, "You can't go along that trail. Just go back to the parking lot and follow any of the other trails." I was about to ask him why not. I thought maybe the trail was blocked by fallen trees or something. It seemed rather an odd thing to say. Then he disappeared. Into thin air.

I was trying to figure out what all that was about, when this man passed by me and headed down the trail I was planning to take. He looked out of place. A big burly "biker dude" kind of guy. It's a dog park, and usually you see people with dogs, people with kids, people with cameras, and joggers. When it's warm you might see teenagers looking for a place to hang out. I've never seen a lone biker dude in there before.

I have to say the guy made me nervous. I was glad he passed me where there was lots of traffic going by on the road. I wouldn't want to have been caught alone with that guy. Anyway, I went back through the parking lot and took a different trail before heading home.

Of course, by the time I got home, I thought it was just all silliness on my part. I facetiously asked for a sign that a ghost had actually saved my butt today. And then my kitchen light burnt out.

As a buddy of mine says, "There's your answer."