I frequently experience little daily horrors. To me, its what happens when I'm both greatly amused at something, and at the same moment understand that it's not amusing but wrong.
I was in the car with my sister yesterday, and from out of nowhere she says, "You ever hear of Indian bumping?"
Already I had started to smile and I shook my head and asked for clarification, "You mean East Indians or Native Canadian Aboriginal Peoples..."
"Us, you idiot," she grinned back.
"No, what is it?" I asked, at first thinking it was going to be something risque, which is odd for her, she doesn't usually go for that type of humor.
"Well, a guy in my class told me that he was crossing the street downtown, and some punk ran into him. Not hard or anything, but enough to make him bounce off the bumper and out of the way. The guy peeled off. Hit and run."
I was shocked, and waited for the clincher.
"Apparently, it's a new thing. More than 5 Native people have been hit in the last couple of months," my sister informed me, waiting expectantly.
"A new thing?!" I demanded, but was unable to prevent myself from smiling.
Just one more little daily horror. Awful stuff, but kinda funny, too. I could almost imagine how such a pasttime evolves. Over the internet? Via a homemade bar of soap with a cryptic message? A group of predjudiced angry young idiots out for the 'new' sport? In a bloody little piss ass of a town? Who knew? Maybe it was some weird co-incidence turned into an urban legend rather quickly. But this much is true: People are strange, sick and twisted. Anything is possible.
But yes, I've been pretty careful on the street since hearing about it. But I haven't stopped grinning at it either.