Three apologies in maybe six seconds.
I hadn’t done anything to him.I still apologized.That’s when I saw Maria.She had seen me first.She had seen the man standing over me.She had heard him making those remarks.
She didn’t say hello.She didn’t ask what was happening.She walked straight up beside him, close enough that he turned his head, and she lifted her phone.“Don’t move,” she said. “Either of you.”The man frowned.“What are you doing?”
Maria took the picture.Then she lowered the phone, checked the screen, and nodded.“Good. Now say the thing about her body again, because I want the second one to have your mouth open.”His entire face changed.“What?”“You heard me.”
“Delete that picture.”
Maria slid her phone down to her side.“No.”“I did not give you permission to photograph me.”Maria glanced at me.Then at him.“Did Christy give you permission to stand in her face and talk about her breasts?”
His mouth tightened.“I wasn’t talking about her breasts.”Maria raised her eyebrows.“Wonderful. What were you talking about?”He pointed at my shirt.“That.”
“What is ‘that’?”
He looked around.People were watching now.An older woman had stopped near the endcap.A younger guy holding a shopping basket had one earbud out.Another woman with a toddler had turned her cart sideways and was staring directly at us.The man said, “She should cover herself.”
