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Imagine for a moment that you’re sitting in your favorite coffee shop. It’s early in the morning, before the freelancers have arrived to turn the place into an office. You’ve grabbed your favorite seat by the window and you’re sipping your soy-green-tea-yerba-mate latte and reading the newspaper in peace.

A guy comes in. At first, all seems normal. He waits patiently in line for his beverage, although, oddly, he gets it served in a bowl rather than a cup. Then he goes to take a seat. But instead of sitting at a table like everyone else, he sniffs a few people, rubs his bare asshole all over the ground, circles twice, sighs audibly, and lies down.

What would you do? Call the police? Get up and leave? Or just stare, openmouthed, at this monster among us?

Katie Herzog is a former staff writer at The Stranger.