Points to Ponder

It was the same guy at the check-out desk as last time, the one with the long blond hair and a beard that reminded me of hippies. He had looked at my copy of Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and commented that he had tried reading it but couldn't make it through the book. (I at least got through the first book before losing interest.)

He says to me, "Are you into anime?" No, I'm not. I have only a vague idea of what anime is, and lump it into the same category as sci-fi. Comic books? Not my thing. Then he invited me to an anime club, where they would watch a film and discuss it. I mistakenly thought he was hitting on me, and inviting me to join him and his geeky friends in some underground club for nerds who like anime.

Turns out, it is just an event at the library. For teens. So, do I look like a teenager? Or someone that would be into anime?

Hard to say.

~ ~ ~

I was in the house alone, doing laundry when the "gardener" stopped by. I use that term loosely. He's an old black guy who mows the lawn. Seemed harmless enough. I said hi, which invited him to talk to me. He looked to be in his 50's, at least.

Then he asked me out. Like, on a date. Kept going on about how nice I was, and how he'd like to take me out sometime. I tried to explain to him that I am Jewish and would only marry a Jew. Of course, that prompted him to discuss religion, and how we are all G-d's creations and surely G-d does not want us to discriminate, which means it is okay. 

I politely tried to extricate myself from the conversation and close the door.

He knocked a little while later, and handed me a piece of paper with his name and phone number scrawled on it. It looked like he couldn't write that well, as he had written and then rewritten the number trying to make it more clear. He said maybe I could call him sometime, and we could go out.

I wished him a good day, a little uncomfortably. 

We live in a time when it's okay for a black guy to ask a white girl out without getting whipped. But somehow he reminded me of slavery.

I kept the paper. It makes me a little sad; I'm not sure why.