Street Harrassment

[Breathless]

Back in the day, chokes me up even to think about it now. I was at a meet the teacher night with my two kids. It was held in the school gym, a dinner put on by the teachers, and i swear every single person in town was in attendance. My son was about 7 and my daughter 4. Big round tables, barely any seating left, the place was full. A couple with their 3 children were standing against the wall with no where to sit. When my husband and I were together, we were kind of a best friends couple. I hung out with D the wife, all the time, we would watch each others kids, take shopping trips together, just basically hung out 4 out of 7 days a week. She was one of my closest friends. My husband and her husband M worked together, and had been friends since kids. I had not talked to her since the day before I left my husband, I didnt know what to say. Anyway.. I had left the table I was sitting at to go and grab a coffee refill from one of the banquet tables with my daughter, my son had stayed at the table to watch the program being put on by the teachers. When I returned to the table D and M and their children were sitting at the table I was at. I thought, here is my chance to break the ice, so I said hi! nice to see you guys here, with a big smile on my face. D stood looked me right in the eye and said.. your kind of people disgust me! The chatter in the entire gym was instantly silent. D then said, you are going to burn in hell. My little daughter tugging on my arm say mommy what kind of people? I whispered to my daughter, happy people honey.. and sat back down. D and M took their children from our table like i had a plague or something, everyone was staring.. I wanted to much to run from the gym, I can still feel the heat of the red of embarrassment that my face must have glowed with. The silence continued. Fake smiling, I had just wished it would have stopped. I moved to a bigger city with my children about a month later.