Friday, March 1, 2013

Not Dressed Up and Somewhere To Go, Part II

When I showed up in male mode I encountered Star and her partner (also presenting as male) separately.  Each did an excellent 'take' when they realised who I was (not hard: guy with Charity).  Star made a point of mentioning to others who had met Meg that they had met "me."

We had two tables near the back of the restuarant.  Each table held eight or ten people.  There were three kids at the other table, and several people from the previous game party.  Dim Sum, I learned, is a shared meal.  They bring over carts with various small meals and you choose what you like.  The food goes on the lazy susan which makes up a large part of each table and as it rotates you choose what you want.

The food was good.  I sat next to Amanda and within earshot of others I had met the week before so I could join in conversation somewhat ~ they all knew each other from way back, so there was a bit of "outsider" there, but there was enough common experience that it made for a pleasant meal.

About halfway through, I looked up and saw, a few tables away, a familiar-looking man.

As I've said, I have a problem with faces.  I thought this was the father of someone who used to be a good friend of my oldest when he was my only, but I wasn't sure.  If I saw him in the neighborhood I'd be sure, but, well, this was out-of-context.  But next to him was the wife I would expect to see with him and the combination was enough for me.  So I went over and said hi and caught up a bit.

And if I was Meg that day, I would have said "I don't care" and done the same.  I might have tried to have a bit of fun with it, asking him about his job or hobbies and how his son was doing, without letting him know who I was ~ see if he could figure it out.  For even more fun, I could have ignored his wife and acted like she was a new acquaintance if he introduced me.  Perhaps I would have said "I live down the street... *'s dad" if he said "where do I know you from?"

But it's probably a good thing that that scenario was left unplayed.  I think I shouldn't not care quite enough to do that.  But on the spur of the moment, I think I would have done it.

Thank you, Thalia.




1 comment:

  1. Meg -

    Thalia took good care of you.... In your shoes, I'd think carefully about when you out yourself as Meg to people who know you as your male persona.

    Thinking about face recognition... Do you generally use voices and other unique identification patterns to recognize people?

    M

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