Just a few minutes ago I was walking home, and as I turned a corner this guy confronted me. Kind of shabby looking, but not homeless-person shabby. I expected him to start in on the usual “I just need $2.50 for the TTC” thing, but his spiel was different.
Him: “You’re walking home, right?”
Me: “Uh, yeah…” (please, crazy man, don’t chase me down and rob me and steal my groceries…)
Him: “Well, you see, my father died of colon cancer a little while ago and he was such a big part of my life [etc., etc.]…” (??) “…and I wondered if you would do your walk home as a blessing in his memory.”
Me: “Uh, okay…” (waits expectantly for him to bless my feet or something so I can leave)
Him: “I had a dream about him, and I talked to the priest and he said that was a good thing, and you’re the first person who stopped to listen, everyone else is in such a hurry, and so would you please walk home…barefoot…in memory of my father.”
I muttered something about broken glass and stuff and finally just said “Sorry, I can’t,” and left, wondering WTF was that?? A crazy homeless guy? A just plain crazy guy? Just someone with unorthodox religious practices? Or was it, as I now suspect, some bizarre Just For Laughs: Gags setup?
If any of you out there know what the frak was going on, please enlighten me…
My first impression is that he’s obviously off his nut.
But then I thought maybe there was a bet going on between him and some hidden co-conspirators as to how long it would take him to get someone to take their shoes off.
I wonder if this is related to the Boulder handshake that I was offered on the Mall in 1980 as a freshman. To this day, I do not know what the moustached young man wanted. I declined.
barefoot and in this weather (it’s about 45 here today and wet)–I wonder if he wasn’t going to wait until you rounded a corner and then jump you.
My vote is definitely for foot fetishist, though a clearly unbalanced one who has lost all sense of social boundaries and is driven by his fetish to make inappropriate requests of strangers.
Incidentally, zoid, there’s nothing “bizarre” about a foot fetish; it’s not even truly a fetish, which technically has to be about an object. Feet are a part of the body, after all - just a part that some people can appreciate and admire.
Why no, I’m not defensive, why do you ask? :o
It wasn’t around any station in particular - closest to Spadina, I guess. Since I’m sure nobody here’s going to stalk me and lie in wait or whatever - it was right outside Olive & Lemon.
I really hope it was nothing more than some crazy prank. The religious part was kind of weird, especially if it were a radio station contest or something, but then again, it’s generally the best justification for doing any kind of weird stuff.
(eleanorigby, there’s nothing on “boulder handshake” in the Urban Dictionary. It must be really obscure, or perverse, or both…)
I’m sorry if I sounded snarky or judgemental, that wasn’t the intention.
I was just thinking that the OP might say “that’s just silly” to my suggestion and I was trying to point out that human sexuality has a whole rianbow of flavors.
In retrospect the word “bizarre” was a poor choice.
