Really Appalling

Rite Aid seemed like a perfectly safe place for Cynthy to pick up her ear ointment. And dressing up in skirts for our lunch didn't seem too ominous of a decision.

I'm standing there in the aisle a bit awkwardly because, as much fun as it is to wear four-inch heels, I am quite visibly uncomfortable when I dress up in something more than jeans and a neutral-colored shirt.

I see a man, white, 30s, sunglasses, shorts and t-shirt, limping towards me. He's not limping because he's hurt, but because he has something on his foot that's about to fall off. It looks like an upside down, orange iPod. He walks really close to me and so, out of instinct, I close my legs and walk away.

Cynthy goes to check out and I whisper to her.

"That guy has something on his foot."

"What is it?" she asks.

"I don't know. I really don't know. But he got all close to me and put his foot by my foot and, I don't know, I think it's a camera."

"What do you mean?"

"Like he was trying to look up my skirt or something."

"No. Really?"

"I don't know. That's what it seemed like. Look. That guy. Look at his foot," I say as he walks past us.

"Yeah. That's a camera phone."

"Oh my god."

Cynthy is next in line and the guy gets behind me. I cross my legs, scoot away from him, and look at his face. He is exhaling a long breath while looking up nervously. I walk out of the store.

Cynthy comes out and meets up with me.

"Is he still in there?" I ask.

"Yeah. He did the same thing to me. He went like this," she says, sliding her foot directly under me.

"Oh my god."

"So I pulled away and gave him this dirty look."

"Did you say anything?"

"No."

"Do you think he's still in there?"

"I don't know."

"Should we go in there and say something to him?"

"Like what?" she says.

"I don't know. Like, hey pervert, or something. And tell him off. I don't know."

"Well, we don't know if he was really doing that."

"I know. What if we were wrong?"

"That'd be pretty bad."

So we walk away.

Obviously looking back, I realized that was in fact what he was doing. I was just so shocked in the moment I didn't think to report him, yell at him, step on his foot and break his phone, or even simply ask what the hell was so precariously attached to his foot. I wish I did something, said something.

I still can't really get over it. There are so many perverts and freaks out there.

I fell asleep around 2 a.m. with the incident still on my mind. Fifteen minutes later, I woke up from a loud ringing. I checked my phone and I didn't have any missed calls or anything, but something woke me up. Something was telling me to pray for that man. It was a difficult thing to do.