I am leaving Albertson's and there is a child walking behind his parent and staring at me. He stared at me in the store, too. Or, more specfically, at my head.
He is, I would guess, around 4-5 years old. Old enough to walk and talk and be precocious about things and young enough not to have a fully developed sense of propriety.
He finally gets the nerve to turn his head as he follows his mom around the corner and starts to say, "Mister, you're bal..." (bald) when WHAM! he walks straight into a pillar outside the door. Since his head is turned to me, nothing important hits the pillar. He bounces off and lands on his tush on the ground with a surprised look on his face.
He glances around, more shocked than hurt. Only when his mother reacts with fear and coddling does he erupt into tears and screams bloody murder.
Now, to prove that I probably shouldn't propogate, I smile as I pass on the other side of the pillar on my way to my car and think, 'Karma's a bitch, kid.'
Addendum
Winds up that his mother is parked next to me. As I finish putting my groceries in the back of the truck and walk my cart around toward the entrance, the child spots me again. He immediately starts to get a worried/crying face. I think he has now associated pain and embarrassment with baldness through a Pavlovian reaction. Without doing anything, I think I have scarred this kid for life.
Actually, you are lucky that the mother didn't assume you had somehow caused her son's "injury" and come after you for some pay-back. Where I live, that's the way it goes--and there is no reasoning with a pissed off mama.
ReplyDeletewhen i was at harvey's (do they have harvey's in socal? burgers, anyway) last night with bf and 4 year old, 4 year old saw a man with a bandanna tied around his head and a gold earring.
ReplyDeletenaturally, he said to scott VERY audibly "daddy, that man's a pirate!"
so the guy turns around, and says "aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh."
:) out of the mouths of babes indeed. could have been worse, he could have called you mr. clean.