Psycho Magnet

I am neither devastatingly beautiful nor terrifyingly ugly, neither extremely tall nor painfully short, neither appallingly fat nor shockingly skinny, neither dark complexioned nor fair of face. I am simply normal –NORMAL. I am the poster child for ordinary folks. Aside from my flower patterned headscarf I can, with typical ease, blend into any given crowd and with a bit of extra effort into the nearest wall if need be. But, and this is a big BUT, society’s outcasts and social misfits seem to gravitate towards me on a regular basis. It’s getting to the stage where it has passed from being amusing to annoying to as of late frightening. Do I send out some kind of energy that only losers smell? My life has been one big show appropriately titled ‘Who will harass Dreamer this week?”.

I can remember each event vividly and it will remain with me for a very long time.To add to my increasingly bizarre collection is the puzzling incident at 2 weeks ago. As usual, I was minding my own business, going about work lazily, while fantasizing about my future. I got one of those hair raising feelings and I instinctively knew someone was behind me but I went on and ignored him hoping he’d make like a rash and go away. At the corner of my eye I saw a brilliant flash of yellow light. It was puzzling at first but then I realized that he took my picture with his cell phone. While I was digesting that weird bit of news, he stepped up beside me and stood close enough that if I reached out I could have touched him. I was still studying him from the periphery of my vision, trying hard to understand what he was doing without giving him the hint that I was on to him. Not a word passed between us, perhaps he thought I didn’t see him, or that maybe I didn’t speak English, better yet perhaps he thought I was intimidated? Yaa bal og?

I kept my head lowered and straight ahead while my eyes almost almost popped out of their sockets with the force of turning them to the far corner. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone again and with a slight movement of his hand lowered it, twisted it, and tried to get another angle, this time of my face. This was enough for me and I quickly left, started talking to a customer nonchalantly and at the same time keeping my eye on him. He saw me look at him and I knew that he knew that I knew what he was doing. He started walking towards the nearest exist and I hurried to call the manager. I told her what happened, she was surprised and a bit worried so went to try to find him. He got lost in the crowd and in the few seconds it took to call backup he disappeared into the mall. My manager told me to keep my eye out when going home and if he presented himself again, not to give him a chance, but to call security immediately. That’s what I’m thinking. Less curiosity and more action next time around.

I honestly do not understand why he would do that. And what might he possibly gain from a picture of a sales person doing her job? Especially one from her back? People. They are very complex beings. Maybe they are never meant to be understood.