“You’re mad,” he said to me as he held the door open. I asked him why he thought that and was a little surprised by the response.
“Well, you get all bony when you’re mad.”
“What?”
“Not that you’re not always bony,” he tried, haltingly. “It’s just that when you’re mad, you look especially bony.”
I don’t know why people end up saying things like this to me. A friend of mine once said that he always thought I was exaggerating until we went on a week-long trip together and he saw it firsthand. It makes one wonder what characteristic causes people to say things like that.
I doubt it’s long hair or brown eyes. It seems unlikely that it would be something to do with feet or my style of dress. I can’t imagine that it would have to do with my teeth or my nose.
I had one friend recently tell me, in a very mom way, that they were just jealous.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said to her as we walked. “I don’t think people are going by thinking ‘oh she’s got such lovely teeth; I’m going to tell her how bony she looks when she gets mad’ or something.”
“You’re saying I’m bony?” I asked him, adjusting my purse.
“No! It’s just that you’re not…. plush?”
“Really? Like carpeting?”
I don’t really make an effort to make people nervous, but I can see why people might be nervous when I do things like that.
“No,” he said, grinning nervously. “Not like … carpeting- I don’t know. It’s your muscles. You’re muscly when you’re mad. Not muscly, but your muscles get tense and your bones are… more noticeable. It’s that you can see your tendons and bones and things when you’re mad.”
“That’s gross,” I said.
“I can’t say it right, but I know you know what I mean!”