why do we subject ourselves to conforming to what is acceptable to a society even though we know we are just putting up a facade so no one would think us odd?
out of place?
i wish i had the strength to be one of those people walking around in those 'demonic outfits' (my version of people who wear all black with hair all spooky & scary and black makeup to match!).
i know they're people like me too, but they have something i haven't got.
courage. (either that or they probably really are just fresh out of the looney bin!)
i saw a couple of them today (i'll refer to them as 'it' from now on) , walking around in the mall as i was going up the escalators heading to my favourite food joint in the city centre. (not so much that it was my 'favourite', but more because it was one of the cheapest places i can get my noodle soups that didn't taste like it came out of a can!)...
yep, so i was walking up when one of 'it' got on the escalators behind me...
i tried to remain calm & look cool, look composed.... even though my hand clutched my purse a little bit tighter, and i was willing myself to concentrate growing eyes at the back of my head!
all the while, looking around subtly, trying to catch a glimpse of what 'it' was doing behind me, on any shiny surface i can find!
yes, pathetic, i know.
but i was quite paranoid! i think it all started about 2 years ago when i was being followed in the mall parking lot... ooohhh, that is another story at another time. let's not revisit that, shall we?
so, trust God to play tricks with my mind.
of course, nothing happened. nothing usually does... most of the time!...
these people who seemingly look so different from us are just that, people.
ordinary people, at that! just with a different outlook in life...
or they really don't have enough money to pay for proper clothes! your guess is as good as anyone's!
of course, as i got off the escalators, 'it' didn't follow me... i turned to see that 'it' was actually walking the other way, towards a man who looks like a non-'it'... perplexed, now I detoured and pretended to go the wrong way... seemingly wanting to go the same direction that 'it' was going to... how odd... now I was walking behind 'it'...following 'it'!!
this time, i noticed that 'it' had looked back at me a couple of times, sensing that 'it' was being followed... taking a cue from the numerous amounts of movies i had watched in my life, i pretended to stop and look confused.
'it' noticed and walked back towards me... stopping just as 'it' reached a few feet in front of me, and asked (very politely, i might add), whether i was alright... 'it' said that i looked lost & out of place.
out of place?!! me?? that's new!
well, i played along & said that i was actually looking for an italian restaurant on that floor... 'it' looked amused, but said nothing... merely pointing me to an outlet just right next to me, which had BOLD letters spelling out 'LA ITALIANO'.... yes, you can imagine how embarrassed i was at that moment...
i quickly thanked 'it' and walked off, towards the direction of the restaurant while 'it' looked on... rejoining the non-'it' looking man once i had walked through the doors...
after taking a seat & ordering a meal that was the cheapest offered in the menu, i laughed.
more to myself than anything.
now, people looked at me as if I was the odd one!
How funny...
it turned out that 'it' was a perfectly well spoken, curteous person who just happens to dress queer...( but has intelligent eyes, mind you!)...
and who had thought or sensed that maybe I (as normal as i may seem to me) was the one following 'it'!
How quickly we, as human beings, judge one another based on what we see rather than what really is... i mean, today could have just be one of those days that, like casual fridays in one's office, is a weird monday!
yep, that's probably the case here. that just seems more acceptable...
that just seem to make more sense. and that is just easy to slot into, one of those tiny boxes of categories in my brain to store away...
ahh, my food finally arrived!
la pasta al aglio olio alla pleno non olio...
(plain spaghetti olive oil without the olive oil)...
now, why are the other patrons looking at me like i've grown a third eye?
;p
shezl;nn
the undomestic wife.
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