Once upon a time I was desperately searching all places with used junk for Candy Land (perhaps a rant on how the new one is crap later). On one particular day I hit up the Provo DI and was almost run over by a guy in a motorized wheel chair. Later I was at the DI in American Fork and saw the same old guy sitting on a couch. I said hello and acknowledged the fact that we'd both been at two DIs that day. He asked what I was hunting so furiously for and why. I told him I was a teacher and needed some stuff for my classroom. We wished each other luck and I headed on my way. When I finished my hunt (and didn't find anything I wanted) I passed him as I headed on my way. The man asked me to sit as he told me about some old movie star that had a show on tv when he was a kid and how beautiful she was.
Before too long the man asked me if I believed in God and the Gospel and the priesthood. I figured he was trying to be very much like my grandfather and just making sure I was doing what I should. Old people sometimes get a little nosy with strangers (not all old people, just some). I answered in the affirmative and he said I was a "dangerous woman." He went on to talk to me a little bit about religion. Nothing struck me as particularly odd until another man came up to him and asked him about Warren Jeffs. The stranger talking to me said Warren Jeffs was way out of line and quoted some people on the matter. Then the second guy said, "Ok, I just wanted to ask because I knew your group would have something to say about that." Wait, what? This guy has a group? Oh dear....
Long story shortened a little bit this guy threw a whole lot of backwards doctrine at me and told me how polygamy (or celestial plural marriage, as he insisted on calling it) was the only way to live. Little did he know that polygamy is one of my major questioning points of the church and something that I'm insanely uncomfortable with. When he quoted Journal of Discourses to me I was quick to point out that Brigham Young sometimes erred on the side of insane which led to him going on a racist diatribe about another error with the mainstream church.
He eventually invited me to his sacrament meeting to get some real answers and gave me his cell phone number. I was told to call him any time day or night. Last week I went to check DI for Candy Land again and he was lowering the wheel chair lift to one of those old people shuttle bus things to leave. I was pretty sure he saw me and I hurried inside and got on the phone with my mom so I could pretend to be busy if he approached me. The man didn't follow me, but I did get the willies and was on super freaked out. One thing I have decided: if I run into this guy again I'll have to stand my ground and be a little more honest and a little less polite. I may not be sure of many things, but I definitely don't want to be a polygamist.
Oh, and one note. The guy told me not to tell anyone what he told me because then my friends would start to reject me. You're not going to reject me, are you?
2 comments:
i'm reeeeeeally glad you blogged about this. thank you.
I've been frequenting the DI up here in Salt Lake and I always see the same guy too! Not your same guy, naturally, but my own same guy. He's a million years old and rides a motorcycle. He hasn't tried to save my soul yet, but as a precautionary measure I'm ALWAYS on the phone with my mom. I'll keep an eye out for CandyLand.
Post a Comment