Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Excuse Me...will you move me?

I witnessed a mental illness monstronsity today at the Westside Market. An older woman with a straggly gray beard, yes beard, called out to me while I was ordering my mix and match salad. "Would you help me move?" She was seated in a wheel chair there with her beard. So I stepped out of the way, assuming that I was in the way of the wide berth her chair took up. I assumed she just wanted to wheel on over to the check out line. But no, she wanted someone to push her. she wasn't lifting a finger, although she obviously was able to lift a finger. Instantaneously I realized she was a crazy crazy. She was tapping her feet and moving her arms. The wheelchair was laden with deli bags full of mysteries. While my salad was tossed I watched several unsuspecting adults fall into her attention-getting trap and push her 10 feet or so in different directions. At one point she was near the mixed nuts, at another closer to the floral dep't. I think someone finally gave her an extra roll and wheeled her out of there. This doesn't seem as alarming writing it here as it was a few hours ago in person. I don't know how to convey it accurately.

Daiel suggested that this afternoon he would call out to folks to help him push different keys on the keyboard. "can you push the k?" "can you help me push the controlkey + n combination?" He is learning from his experiences outside of the beige.

11 comments:

sloth said...

FB! That is amazing and disturbing. A little sad, too. Do you think the store charged her for the deli items? Maybe it's her way of getting free eats. In New York, the ratio of sane to crazy people shifts in the summer. By August it's about 50-50.

fairy butler said...

i honestly don't think the deli bags contained food. ?? more likely tin containers of cat food, or sanitizing lotions, or old newspapers, stuff like that. I think she just wanted people to wheel her around and "care for her." By August things are bound to get ugly.

sloth said...

In the summer it's also easier to differentiate the schizophrenics from cell-phone users with "ear buds."

The beard, too. That's a choice detail.

fairy butler said...

Your Onions Count!

sloth said...

What about my Funyons? Don't they count, too?

Mountain Man said...

Sloth your funyons count. Yes. And your fritos.

Anonymous said...

And my bunions? What about them?

sloth said...

That depends. Are they deep-fried? Are they crunchy and delicious?

Anonymous said...

don't forget the corns!

Anonymous said...

I like Daiel's idea FB. I may have to employ that technique my own self.

Anonymous said...

That's a great story. Waiting for more. » » »