This is a true story of what just happened to me. I find things like this highly amusing. I don’t know why, but hopefully somebody else will to.
I’m sitting here in one of the upper-floors in the building where I have my German and Islam classes. I’ve been here for about three hours, trying to get caught up on homework (which basically means I’ve been goofing off for 3 hours).
Just now I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and there was this skinny raggedy-looking 20-something guy with a patchy beard, dressed in clothes that a surfer would wear, standing behind me, trying to look over my shoulder to see what I was doing online. I don’t know why he was doing this, but I kept “working” and ignored him.
I thought he had left, when suddenly I felt a couple taps on my shoulder. This time I took the earphones out of my head and turned around and looked at him. He was just standing there behind me, and he held a paper tray with a piece of fried chicken in his hand. The chicken looked as though it had been nibbled on, and there was ketchup in the tray, smeared around like it is when people eat fries.
He gave me a scarey look and asked, “Do you want this?” and held the chicken out to me. I was quite weirded out, to be honest, because for one I’d never seen this man and for two I don’t eat chickens, so I said, “NOO!!!” as nicely as I could.
Then he looked at me kind of sadly and turned around and walked away, upset that I didn’t accept his offer of fried chicken.
I have absolutely no idea what the whole situation was about.
Well maybe he saw you sitting there for three hours and thought that you might be hungry, and rather than waste food, thought you might want some, even if it was a partially eaten chicken leg or somethin’.
OR! He might have something more devious in mind and wanted to poison you…I don’t know Cran…it is weird!
OR! He wanted to start a conversation, to make/meet a friend..who knows!
I was afraid I would be the only person who found this amusing.
It wasn’t just that he offered me eaten chicken, but the way he was watching me online (on C&F, no less) for a while and his whole way of moving and speaking. I’m bad at describing the whole thing, I guess. It was so odd.
But I don’t think he was a student. I recognize most of the faces around campus (there are only 1500 students), and I’d never seen him before he offered me chicken.
Maybe he was trying to pick you up, and just didn’t know how.
Seriously, when I was younger I once had this total stranger guy come up to me and offer me a stick of gum out in public. It was kind of scary..he came up gave me this very piercing look, stuck the gum out, and said “do you want this?” It was such a surreal thing, I’m sure I made a face as I said “uh, no”. I had suspicions about his state of mental health.
The guy looked dejected, threw down the gum, and took off. It was only later that someone told me he thought I was cute that I realized he was trying to pick me up. Then, after I pondered the fact that he thought I was cute, I realized my suspicions about his state of mental health were confirmed
I never have understood how he thought his particular pickup method would work, even if I were inclined in that direction.
If he wanted to “pick me up” he was doomed to failure. I’m going to stay single for the next four years at the least. I have enough drama in my life without a boyfriend (and besides, I’m waiting for amar…).
But surely there could have been a better way to do it (if that’s what it was) than trying to give me half-eaten chicken!!
Glad I missed whatever needed pruning, but I have to say, Cran, you are starting to remind me of the guy in Slaughterhouse Five, to whom weird things happen to. I reckon you got some red boots handy, too. You may end up being a writer at this rate.
German and Islam classes. Nyuk. That’ll keep ya busy.
I was actually thinking about that–if weird things happen to me more than other people or if, perhaps, I notice them, talk about and write about them more than other people…I don’t know.
But yesterday I was walking on the left side of the sidewalk, and BOOM BOOM BOOM three big acorns fell from a tree about 6" in front of me. I thought “Dang. Those squirrels don’t like me,” so I moved over to the right side of the sidewalk, and, lo and behold–a whole piece of a branch, leaves, nuts, and all fell in front of me!
I love my German and Islam classes. They’re my favorite two. I actually learn stuff in them. I’ve had classes where I didn’t really learn anything because I already knew it. And that sounds way more prideful/conceited than I meant it…
Ooooo…you wouldn’t like it in my backyard. Aside from getting attacked by 10 unruly children (in a nice way, but attacked none the less ), my almost 100 year old oak tree also likes to fling down acorns at innocent, unsuspecting people walking by. Sometimes at night, when they come crashing down, it almost sounds like a gunshot it’s so loud.
We have a 70-foot-tall Douglas Fir like that. So far it’s managed to avoid actually hitting one of us (or one of our cars), but it loves to throw down branches. Some nights it sounds like someone bowling on our roof!
