I shouldn't known things would change from good weird to bad weird
I haven't used this thing in a while. Partly because I've been busy working for a festival and restaurant simultaneously, partly because I've been living amidst a natural disaster and partly because I change my feelings about tumblr everyday.
Some encounters that occurred today really unnerved me and I knew I wanted to tell people a little bit about it. I hate repeating myself, so here it is in one place for the reluctant people I have bugged into venturing into the fowl little corner of the internet.
Calgary just experienced destructive flash floods. This caused the fest I've been working for to cancel and subsequently a lot of pop-up shows and gatherings were sewn together by our exceptional community. Everything was so unusual for a few days but in such a positive way. That ended for me today. Many bizarre encounters were had today but I thought this deserved an entire post.
After a staff meeting I went to a lovely charity bbq with some coworkers/friends. From there, I had to use the highly disrupted transit system to get home. I had many strange encounters which I'm chalking up to flood lunacy and a lack of headphones; the best defence mechanism against unwanted attention from strangers.
A young man boarded my first bus shyly, with a slightly older man asking the bus driver questions about how to get to the NE of the city. The bus driver was clueless so I volunteered to show him since I too was heading NE. The man politely thanked me and got off. The younger man (let's call him Mike) got on but didn't really acknowledge me. The older man (let's call him Tom) came back and encouraged Mike to sit with me. I coaxed him into making small talk after his initial timidness. Mike was lucid but clearly a little different in mental capacity than the average person. I assumed Tom to have been a professional caretaker of some kind or at least a Big Brother type. After some talk of the weather, I asked Mike about Tom. Mike told me that Tom is his best friend, they were hanging out today and that they had met on transit. He also tells me that today Tom called him sexy.
I was aghast and had no idea what to say. "That's... unusual". Mike says he has known Tom since November, after meeting on transit and receives a call from him to check up. Tom asks for my number and I am reluctant to give it. We speak on Mike's phone and he graciously thanks me, offers to take me for coffee or at least give me a Tims giftcard. I refuse and try to gracefully end the conversation. Mike speaks with Tom once again, ending their conversation with "I love you too". I'm subtlely accumulating more information on Tom from Mike out of concern. He lets on very little but doesn't seem secretive, just a little scattered. Mike's mom calls to check on him and (thank God), he recounts the "sexy" story to her as well. After he hangs up I ask if his mother found the story funny. She hadn't. She had found it inappropriate.
Mike asked me why his mother might feel this way. The following is probably the most difficult thing I've had to tell someone, recounted the best my memory will allow for. Bolded text is me.
"I have a best friend too. We hang out a lot but we never call each other sexy. Do you think Tom was kidding around when he said it?"
"Because it's not something many people say in seriousness to someone that they consider to be their friend."
"Because it might hurt their feelings?"
"Actually Mike I think sometimes it can hurt more than your feelings. It can mean that someone wants something from you."
"Like... well... sex. Some people think if they have a friend who is a little different from other people they can do things to them without their permission because they think there will be consequences. This is wrong and no one has to let someone treat them that way. I want you to be very careful about who you spend your time with and to take my number in case you ever feel unsafe. I don't think you should see Tom again."
*vague mumbling, seems to take me seriously but can't express his thoughts*
When my stop approaches, I remind him to contact me any time he thinks he needs any help and that I will try to do whatever I can. I hope this doesn't sound brag-y or self-righteous in any way. I just found it completely insane that I could just walk into a situation like this by complete and (maybe) make a positive difference.
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