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Me as a curiosity

My pleasant hosts accelerated south and waved as their car shrank in my vision from where I stood, alone, with my backpack on the edge of the tarmac. I felt a little deflated since they were a truly nice family and I’d have enjoyed staying with them longer. But life goes on, and when it comes to chaste trips, one should never lose their focus!

Then the sound of dragging footsteps over loose gravel began. Out of the corner of my eye I saw what’d be best described as an unkempt, generously bellied, pop-eyed slouch swaggering in my direction. While keeping an eye on him, I erected my hitchhiking sign and propped it up with cut stone. As I stood upright to flex my lower back, I smelled the good-for-nothing before he came into my line of sight again: he was smoking. He stopped, seemingly exhausted from the 30-metre walk, right alongside me. And he exhaled all his cigarette smoke into my face as a grin materialized on his.

I’ve always been strongly anti-smoking and I don’t suffer fools when it comes to smoking. The first words to come out of my mouth were what would embarrass any self-respecting adult. But I felt no guilt at all; this man had made the effort to move his body up to mine and then proceeded to blow cancer-causing smoke over my mouth and nose, thinking I’d enjoy his company.

He didn’t get the message so it was time for me to be a little more direct. I pointed at the tobacco stick and gestured for him to remove himself. He smiled sheepishly and swiveled on his hips. After trying that 4 times, I turned my back on him and walked backwards until I was standing on his toes. That worked. He slunk across the road, murmuring to another smoker in the corner shop. But for reasons I can’t understand, the shop man was entertained by all of this. He and yet another smoker started for me.

To my amusement, the first smoker managed to gesture to the other 2 not to come close to me. They stopped in the road and stared. They drew from their cigarettes repeatedly and they stared. And they exhaled just as many times and they stared. It was hopefully just curiosity, but I felt uneasy because they were staring so intensely, while mumbling to each other in a low tone. The scene reminded me of being in a wildlife park and having antelope staring at me in utter bewilderment. It was all pathetic, really.

And then a tiny white hatchback parked across the road. A young man on a mission locked eyes on me.

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