Scary without the mask
Some things are scarier than haunted houses
Rikki Saldivar
Issue date: 10/27/08 Section: Opinion
Halloween creeps around the corner, and the signs are everywhere. Houses are draped in ghouls and ghosts, while department stores overstock candy and costumes. It's the one holiday where a person can dress up and make-believe they're someone else. What's really scary is when their costume, really isn't a costume at all, yet something you wished was pretend.
I grew up in a tightly connected neighborhood where your parents went to school with your friend's parents. Everybody knows everybody and small get- togethers tend to become neighborhood block parties. So when I stumbled upon a friend's cousin online, I wasn't surprised.
I tend to be very busy all the time. Whether it's with my job in the newsroom or at home with my family. Both are times I hold dear to my heart and don't like them interrupted.
He was really nice and smart. He had a great intellect and view on certain issues that are usually tossed under the table. I liked talking to him but warned I'm a busy girl, always on the go. Someone trying to smother me wasn't what I needed. He agreed and said that his job, which is in advertising, was also very tedious, and he could understand the pressure of being pulled in different directions all the time.
We continued to talk and everything was fine until a couple of Fridays ago. I had a really bad day on the job and that night we had made plans to go get a bite to eat somewhere. After the day I had, I just wanted to go home and bury my head under a pillow.
I called him before I left home and said that I didn't feel very well and if we could reschedule for another night. I assumed he'd understand and would let me tell him about it. That was definitely not the case.
He immediately asked if he could call me while I drove home. I wasn't up for conversation at the time and asked again if I could call him when I got home. He then asked if I could call him. I told him I would call him when I got home. Then he asked if he could call again. I was thinking in my head, "You've got to be kidding me." I finally, very bluntly said, "I will call you when I get home. Enough."
I grew up in a tightly connected neighborhood where your parents went to school with your friend's parents. Everybody knows everybody and small get- togethers tend to become neighborhood block parties. So when I stumbled upon a friend's cousin online, I wasn't surprised.
I tend to be very busy all the time. Whether it's with my job in the newsroom or at home with my family. Both are times I hold dear to my heart and don't like them interrupted.
He was really nice and smart. He had a great intellect and view on certain issues that are usually tossed under the table. I liked talking to him but warned I'm a busy girl, always on the go. Someone trying to smother me wasn't what I needed. He agreed and said that his job, which is in advertising, was also very tedious, and he could understand the pressure of being pulled in different directions all the time.
We continued to talk and everything was fine until a couple of Fridays ago. I had a really bad day on the job and that night we had made plans to go get a bite to eat somewhere. After the day I had, I just wanted to go home and bury my head under a pillow.
I called him before I left home and said that I didn't feel very well and if we could reschedule for another night. I assumed he'd understand and would let me tell him about it. That was definitely not the case.
He immediately asked if he could call me while I drove home. I wasn't up for conversation at the time and asked again if I could call him when I got home. He then asked if I could call him. I told him I would call him when I got home. Then he asked if he could call again. I was thinking in my head, "You've got to be kidding me." I finally, very bluntly said, "I will call you when I get home. Enough."
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