I'll give the short version and a long version
In highschool me and a few friends tied an empty soda can to a string and hid around a corner, and had an old "can-lady"... or "bag-lady", w/e, bending down and chasing it. She eventually caught on, and stopped... but definitely a "couple tries" of bending down and pursuing it on the string. Ha. ha. It was funny thinking it up, and constructing the can/string, and the thrill of "the hunt" and getting the fish to chase the worm so to speak. BUT, it's a horrible thing to do to a human being.
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If this was like, a mean-ass male motherfucker who screamed at us I probably wouldn't have felt bad at all. But... she was just an older woman with strange clothing and thin hair. The fact that she didn't get mad or mumble something like "god damn kids.." that's what got me.
The utter humanity. Because her reaction was at first embarrassment, a flush face. And rather than anger or sadness a small smirk cracked from the side of her mouth. Without saying it she was kind of saying "ha. yep. joke's on me; ya got me. I'm dirty and spend my day collecting empty cans on the street and inside of garbage receptacles. So really, why exactly should I consider this an epic failure my part? Really.How much worse does this make my day? Look at these kids. Having a ruse. Albeit mean-spirited. They are innocent. I was a kid once. Sure, some life choices led to where I'm at. But also a string of very bad incidents that were beyond my control. I hope no unexpected tragedies befall these youngsters-- WHO TOOK MY FIVE CENTS!"
(I actually don't remember if we left the can or not).
I'm not proud of this.
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