I was walking minding my own business at the parking lot of local Bog Box retailer when a young lady coming the opposite way,  looked at me briefly, turned her head, stopped looked at again me and gave me the Eyefuck. I am not talking about the new definition which for old geezers meant “come hither” but the one that cops get after a criminal knows they have him by the short and curlies and is about to spend a lot of time wearing orange and staring at vertical bars.

Back to the young lady: Her look was one of surprise/fear, followed by shock as in “it can be” and then a slow turn to seething hate mixed in equal parts with disgust. You could tell by the twisting of one of the corners of her lips and the shrugging of her nose she was trying to detect the emanations of sulfur from my body. She looked at me as Beelzebub on Earth, a vampire that needed to be stalked, something, no idea what.

I admit it was a bit of a shock initially: I don’t recall even seeing this particular woman and I don’t recall pissing anybody off in Real Life for a long while, I was confused. Why the hate? The answer came soon… she looked up at the top of my head and her face grew even more intense with hate. It was my cap that incited that much, this cap:

I could not help myself but smiled and continued walking past her.  I did look back a couple of times to ensure she was not going to go stupid on me, but she eventually carried on to her destination.

And I have to say it: It was sweet. Sorry, I guess I am supposed to be shocked at the hate that those three letters inspire, but I am done trying to be the nice one when coming up against fanatical idiots.  Let them be consumed on their own hate, I will enjoy their self-demise.

PS: I read about the “Eyefuck” reference from David Simon’s excellent book “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.” If you haven’t read it, put it on your list.
PS2: Yes, the TV series comes from that book.