A few years back, I went to a boat parade with my housemate and her friends. I walked up to the top deck, which was a bit cold, but a better view, and observed a young boy, early teens, being yelled at and chastised by who I believed to be his father.
The father retreated back down to the lower decks where the big party was going on, and the kid walked to the railing, head down, concentrating on his cell phone. He looked quite lonely and forlorn. So, I got up and walked over to him and started making some conversation, just silly stuff, like, these boats are beautiful, aren't they? He looked up from his phone, and looked around, and said, yes they are. I was just making light conversation, because the kid looked so sad, never mentioned the altercation or anything, just hung out with him and got his attention away from his phone.
Next thing I know, the father reappears and yells at me, what are you doing talking to my son, in a very angry voice. Truth be told, I was at a loss for words. Then he accused me of being a pedophile or stalker or some very bizarre shit, yelled at me to stay away from his son, in front of a whole lot of people that I didn't know, then put his arm around his son, and took him back down to the lower deck.
I was quite shaken and stunned by the entire episode. That feeling of being accused of something that was as foreign to my actual being as could possibly be, in front of others who didn't know me, well it's a terrible feeling.
I frankly hadn't thought about it much again, until tonight. Tonight I wonder what happened to that kid. Was his father just psychologically projecting his own fetish? Ah, strange moments in time that pop up occasionally when least expected, but have left us with haunting feelings that don't really ever go away.
