When You Realize You're Being Paranoid

And it's a good thing!

So I'm at Borders, browsing in the "metaphysics witchcraft magic" section looking for useful books for my dissertation work, particularly annoyed that the alphabet seems a bit "off" in this section and I can't find the author I want, and I hear two teenaged girls giggling and whispering in the book row behind me. I keep hearing the noises that truly mean that they are being secretive and weird-- those "unforgettable from the teen years" spider sense feelings that I am the butt of a joke. I'm thinking they're making fun of me cause here I am in the witch section, browsing through books like Hex in the City and Voodoo in Haiti. I'm debating whether or not to turn around and give them an "evil eye"-- heck, since I'm in the witch section, they OUGHT to fear me, right?

Then, after they leave and I have made my final selections (including a cool book called The Pagan's Muse, with "pagan prayers" and poems) I glance at the row the girls were uncontrollably giggling in.

Oh. The label on the row reads "Erotica" ::blush::

No wonder they were all teen-ager-y. Clearly, it wasn't my butt they were concerned with (well maybe, but probably not). :)

Still, it's sad/funny that I felt a bit paranoid in the witch section. I happily recognize that the world of witches is NOT what many people think it is-- witches aren't Satanists-- in fact, most witches, being pagan, don't even believe in Satan at all (you have to be Christian to be a Satanist, in a way-- he is the devil of the Christian pantheon, after all). And I don't live anymore in the heart of the Bible belt where some fundamentalist fellow might yell at me through a bullhorn cause I'm at an Irish Pub having dinner. But it's really a bit disconcerting to browse that row and see the looks on people's faces as you go by. If you don't believe me, try it sometime. Oh, not if you live somewhere like NYC. But anyplace that's a little "small" that might have obnoxious teens. Just make sure the magic row is not right next to the Erotica one before you get your hackles up.

Of course, I'd rather be the one browsing the witchcraft stacks than the young man and woman who were snuggled up very cozily with her on his lap being all "Jack and Diane" on a chair in the middle of the "Religion and Spirituality" section who looked at ME funny. I guess you can get yourself dropped off by your parents at the book store and the clueless parent figures there's no place for canoodling. (There was a plague of teens there this afternoon apparently). They're the ones who should have been in the Erotica section. Maybe next time I'll point that out to them.