When paranoia gets you

Yesterday, on my usual ride to work by subway, I got on one of the train cars with a lady (?) who was covered from head to toe with some type of clothing. Literally, covered, as in, she had to take a peak out of her bandana-covered face just to see where she's at. She had a big rimmed hat, bandana on face with dark glasses, gloves and heavy rain coat, heavy boots as her ensemble. Come to think of it, I think I assumed she's female. On her, she's carrying two bags, one full duffel and a huge zippered bag.

Isn't that weird?

Everyone, including me, eyed her suspiciously. I think here in America, we tend to get lax about suspicious characters/objects. I myself have noticed that I can easily ignore certain signs and things and in this day and age, we have to be more alert for the sake of our safety.

But with something this obvious, it certainly will get your attention. What's in her bag? Why does she have to dress and act like that? and most of all, What is she up to?

She got off on the next stop, which was a relief and all my horrid thoughts went away. I think we had all signs of some relief in our faces. Anyway, all but one question wouldn't go away -- What was she up to?

I think somehow I figured that maybe (maybe) she has some kind of skin ailment or photosensitivity, the most obvious answer. Afterwhich, I felt bad and sorry for that person. It must be hard to even get around with that and without people having to gawk at you all the time.

I think I need to add, 'do not judge', on my list for this year.

Copyright 2004 Wandertrekker