Was over in the old part of town again the other evening, to test the backflow assembly at another one of those falling-down houses. I mask up and go knock on the door, and I'm talking to somebody living there for a minute. And while she's looking aside and down into her notebook for some records, something in her living room catches my eye. Sometimes you can't help but notice what's right in front of you. Sitting on the sofa there watching the TV, there's this poor soul afflicted with some kind of genetical-cranio-megacephalic-deformity syndrome or something. Head is bald and hugely overgrown, so that their forehead is like twice as wide side-to-side as their face is, but the top of it comes to a rounded point. Their face and body seems kind of shrunken, with stumps for arms and legs. There's this little girl sitting there on a stool, feeding him pieces of waffle with a fork. He's sitting there rocking side to side slightly as he chews, and this reminds me of something but I can't quite place it. And then what pops into my head: that guy's shaped like a mushroom.
The woman looks back up from her notebook, and I guess she seems me glancing past her, and her eyes go narrow and dark. Is there anything else you need right now? No ma'am, I have what I need, thank you. And she closes and locks the door, and I go around back to do the job what I came for.
I'm not trying to be funny, not trying to take away anyone's dignity. I've sure done stuff I wish I hadn't, and looking into their room is one I'll add to that list. But I'm not an uncompassionate person you know. I'm just saying I saw a shape is all, and that was a mushroom shaped person.