Last evening (Monday, 8/29) at about 7:15pm, a male stranger knocked on my back door. This was unusual and alarming for several reasons. I was outside weeding in a corner of the back yard at the time but had my back turned to the house. I did not hear or see the man enter the yard initially, which suggests he was moving quietly. Our property backs onto a high retaining wall so that the only access to the back yard is through the house, from the front via the narrow walks between neighboring houses or by walking through adjacent backyards, most of which are fenced. I turned at the sound of a knock on our back storm door (the inside door was open and my husband was in the living room) and saw the man at the door. When I asked if I could help him, he said that he needed to know where Sheridan St. was. He was being chased by three white guys, perhaps because he is black he said. He asked if I had seen them, which was clearly impossible since there are no streets visible from our back yard. I told him to follow me and I would show him where Sheridan is. He followed me between the houses to the front of ours. I pointed to Sheridan, which is half a block away and clearly visible from where we were standing. He walked briskly to the end of our block (one house away from ours) asked again if that was Sheridan in front of him, then continued walking up the hill on Bryant away from Sheridan. The man's story made no sense. He was not winded as if he had been running from anyone and he did not cry out or ask for help. My strong sense was that he was simply looking for an opportunity to gain quick entry to our house and I surprised him as much as he did me. I called 911 and the dispatcher sent a police officer who came quickly, looked over our property, listened attentively to my story, took a description of the man and set out to cruise the neighborhood looking for him. The man was in his early to mid-twenties, about 5'8", African-American with a medium complexion and light facial hair on his upper lip and jaw. He was wearing a plaid painter's hat, navy shirt, long khaki shorts and athletic shoes with no visible socks. He was very clean-cut and not at all threatening except that he had crept onto my back porch, was looking into my kitchen and lied about what he was doing there. Lynn Cox