It might be two years since I started getting messages about the woman who sits under the pedestrian bridge at Tudor and Elmore. Here’s a few from the last year:

June: ”Every afternoon there is a woman who sits on a retaining wall on the southeast corner of Tudor and Elmore for hours. She did this last summer as well. Many of us who pass her every day would love to know her story.”

August: “She's been there practically every day for well over a year. Even when it's freezing. She just puts a blanket on her lap. She's always smiling. She seems perfectly content just sitting, watching the cars go by.

August: My husband and I see her there most days in the morning and in the evening rain or shine. She is not doing anything but sitting. She doesn’t look homeless. She almost always is sipping on a cup from Starbucks.

October: she is there a lot, year round, and seems relatively happy. I bet she has an interesting story.

I went a few times, trying to find her, but always missed her. After a while interested readers started to call and text when they saw her. And yesterday, following a text, I drove by. And there she was. I pulled into the parking lot at the Anchorage Police Department headquarters parked and walked along the bike trail toward her.

When I was nearby, I stopped at the head of a path in the snow from the trail to her spot under the bridge. She was dressed in a heavy coat, sitting on a piece of cardboard, staring into traffic, swinging her boots. I could hear her talking to herself quietly.

“Hi!” I yelled over the din of traffic.

She turned her head to look at me.

“Can I come talk to you?!”

“No!” she yelled back. “I’m too busy.”

“Are you counting cars?!” I called back. “I’m a writer. I stopped by because a lot of people have told me about you because they see you when they drive by.”

She yelled something back at me I couldn’t understand.

“What?” I asked.

“Go. Away!” She said. “Did you get that?”

I asked her if I could just hang out and not talk to her.

“No. Go away,” she said. “And take your psycho porn space with you!”

And so I did. I’m sure she does have a story. But I don’t think she wants me to tell it.