There Must be a Million Stories in This.
I am going to take Rinda’s plot the photo idea and apply it to this journal entry I found on another blog, http://www.xanga.com/sayJames . (May 30th post)
All I know about the author is that his name is James and he lives in California.
Using this as a springboard for inspiration, what is the whole story? Or what happens next?
Back when I was a student at UCLA, I lived in this dorm building called Sunset Village (‘SV’). It’s a great place with lots of amenities. Great food, tennis courts and swimming pool right next door. If you plan to attend UCLA and want to live on campus, I highly recommend Sunset Village. It’s like a vacation villa.
As you know, daily meals are included in dorm living. Everyday I line up at the cafeteria entrance like everybody else. I swipe my ID card to get in. Back then (don't know about now), SV food was the best, and residents from other dorms would try to sneak in to eat here. So there was always a person (cafeteria employee) standing at the entrance to make sure only SV residents are allowed in. Most of the time the ID checker is a student who works part time. But a few times a week a middle-aged lady would be the door person.
I don’t know when it first started. One time I went to the cafeteria and the middle-aged lady was the ID checker. As I walled by her, she had this facial expression of "fear" when she saw me. I didn’t think much of it because I had no idea what was wrong. Her "feared" look continued to show whenever I walked in when she is on duty.
We are not allowed to take food out of the cafeteria. We eat all we can and that’s it, no take outs. But sometimes I try to sneak small items out anyway, and so do other students. If you get caught, they just ask you to put the food back. One time I had a sandwich in my hand walking behind another guy who had an apple in his hand. We were trying to sneak food out. That middle-aged lady stopped the guy in front of me and asked him to put the apple back. But she did not stop me and just let me waltz out of there with the sandwich. Now that did raise my eyebrows a bit thinking why did she let me go?
Here comes the good part. One day I went to get dinner. As I swiped my card and walked through the entrance, that lady actually spoke out to me. "Do you know of any angels?" she said. At first, I didn’t catch what she said. So I turned around and said "excuse me," "were you talking to me?" She repeated her question again. " Do you know of any angels?" Wow, now I was thinking what a question to ask a guy who’s just trying to get supper.
I paused and tried to think if this is a trick question. I then said, "do you mean ‘angels,’ ‘angels’?", while drawing a circle above my head with my right index finger and then flapped my arms to simulate wings. She said "yes." She then said whenever she saw me, she saw angels following above behind me. I said "oh, really?" "I really don’t know any angels, but thank you for telling me." I tried to act cool and then walked away and proceeded to get food. Obviously I had an uneasy feeling afterwards. I didn't eat much that night.
All I know about the author is that his name is James and he lives in California.
Using this as a springboard for inspiration, what is the whole story? Or what happens next?
Back when I was a student at UCLA, I lived in this dorm building called Sunset Village (‘SV’). It’s a great place with lots of amenities. Great food, tennis courts and swimming pool right next door. If you plan to attend UCLA and want to live on campus, I highly recommend Sunset Village. It’s like a vacation villa.
As you know, daily meals are included in dorm living. Everyday I line up at the cafeteria entrance like everybody else. I swipe my ID card to get in. Back then (don't know about now), SV food was the best, and residents from other dorms would try to sneak in to eat here. So there was always a person (cafeteria employee) standing at the entrance to make sure only SV residents are allowed in. Most of the time the ID checker is a student who works part time. But a few times a week a middle-aged lady would be the door person.
I don’t know when it first started. One time I went to the cafeteria and the middle-aged lady was the ID checker. As I walled by her, she had this facial expression of "fear" when she saw me. I didn’t think much of it because I had no idea what was wrong. Her "feared" look continued to show whenever I walked in when she is on duty.
We are not allowed to take food out of the cafeteria. We eat all we can and that’s it, no take outs. But sometimes I try to sneak small items out anyway, and so do other students. If you get caught, they just ask you to put the food back. One time I had a sandwich in my hand walking behind another guy who had an apple in his hand. We were trying to sneak food out. That middle-aged lady stopped the guy in front of me and asked him to put the apple back. But she did not stop me and just let me waltz out of there with the sandwich. Now that did raise my eyebrows a bit thinking why did she let me go?
Here comes the good part. One day I went to get dinner. As I swiped my card and walked through the entrance, that lady actually spoke out to me. "Do you know of any angels?" she said. At first, I didn’t catch what she said. So I turned around and said "excuse me," "were you talking to me?" She repeated her question again. " Do you know of any angels?" Wow, now I was thinking what a question to ask a guy who’s just trying to get supper.
I paused and tried to think if this is a trick question. I then said, "do you mean ‘angels,’ ‘angels’?", while drawing a circle above my head with my right index finger and then flapped my arms to simulate wings. She said "yes." She then said whenever she saw me, she saw angels following above behind me. I said "oh, really?" "I really don’t know any angels, but thank you for telling me." I tried to act cool and then walked away and proceeded to get food. Obviously I had an uneasy feeling afterwards. I didn't eat much that night.
posted by Betty S at 5/30/2006 02:21:00 PM
4 Comments:
I don't mean to sound joking or dismissive, but my first thought would be that the lady might have suffered some type of psychotic break. James wrote that she had suddenly acted fearful of him, on day, and continued the behavior until something made her approach him. That would be consistent with someone going off their medication.
I don't completely dismiss the possibility that she really can see angels, or that psychotics in general might be seeing an empirically real part of the universe.
Nevertheles, I'd really check the neurochemestry and perscribed meds first. Odds are, that'll be the correct guess. If the CAT scan says this isn't the case, then she's free to find other explanations.
I'm pretty sure that in the real world it was strictly a shortage of meds thing. But in a world of fantasy and fiction, it could be anything.
True, Betty. Very true.
Your post title is so apt :)
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