Weirdest New York Experience To Date

Now, understand that I mostly think this is a decently normal town. I realize that we have our fair share of crazies, freaks, unhinged weirdos, etc. etc. But I think it's mostly of the "Well, that added color to my day" variety and not of the "Jesus, what am I doing living here" variety. That said, last Saturday, I had what was quite possibly the freakiest encounter in New York I've ever had. I hope I can describe it properly, but if not, you'll just have to trust me on this.

So I'm walking down 14th St., having just gotten some breakfast, heading east. It's a beautiful morning out, sun is shining. I'm walking along, minding my own business. As I'm walking towards Avenue A, I pass by a guy who's got the trunk of his beige sedan open. He makes eye contact with me and says, in a decently friendly way: "Do you play chess?" Now, I do play chess, or at least I know the rules of chess, enough to theoretically play, but I say no. I don't particularly want to get offered some boosted chess boards at cutrate prices or whatever it is he has in the trunk. I even laugh a little as I say no - as if to say "Thanks for the offer, I'm not offended, I'm just not interested." I don't really think much about it. I keep walking.

As I approach the middle of the block between B & C, I all of a sudden hear:

"I can teach you."

I look up and it's THE SAME GUY. This time he's in his car, and just his head is poking out of the sunroof. What, did he just pack up his car, drive down the street and wait for me to encounter him again? Why? What the hell? I don't even recall what I said to him, I just quickly rang Biz's doorbell and went inside, weirdly panicky. As a final coda to this whole thing: I turn to look at the car once I'm safely behind the door. I can't see the guys face, but I do see a waving hand. Blargh. Ew. What?

Anybody know what the hell that was?