PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart
It was a pleasant neighborhood and having time to kill before my next business meeting, I decided to take a walk. I began to think that was a mistake when the lone pedestrian, a woman wearing a baseball cap, saw me coming towards her and slowed down.
She looked scared. Was it because I’m an American, that I’m tall, or just because I’m a man?
We got closer and I smiled and nodded. I didn’t know if that was okay here in China. She looked relieved as we passed each other. I’m sorry if she thought I was a monster.
It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in this week’s edition of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.
I used Google images to get the approximate location where the photo was taken. I couldn’t tell for sure, but the woman in the photo looked like she was wearing a New York Yankee’s baseball cap.
I’m fairly tall (six foot, three inches) and I know that can be intimidating for some people, especially women. Also, I’ve had occasional experiences where I’m walking someplace and notice that a woman ahead of me seems uncomfortable. Of course, I can’t read her mind, but maybe she thinks I’m dangerous or something (okay, so I’m not the best looking guy in the world).
I feel bad about that when it happens (hasn’t happened for a long time, actually) but I don’t know what to do about. There’s almost no way I can communicate that I have no harmful intent.
I know women do get freaked about strange men (although most violence against women is committed by relatives, friends, or acquaintances), but from the guy’s point of view, it can seem like we’re all public enemy number one just because we’re male. That may not seem like a big deal to some folks, but imagine boys growing up being treated that way. There are always two sides to every coin.
To read other stories based on the prompt or to contribute one of your own, visit inlinkz.
I was recently interviewed by Blackbird Publishing about my ghostly short story “The Wreck of the USS Hollander” which is featured in the anthology Haunted Waters. It’s short, so please have a look.
Launch Day for the space opera anthology Ruins is next Monday, February 16, 2026! My science fiction short story “Sunrise” appears in the book. Really stoked.
My next science fiction novel “A Wobblegong and His Boy” has proceeded through both structural and line edits. The dedication and acknowledgement sections have been added, and now the publisher, Raconteur Press just needs to do the rest of the magic on their end so that sometime around March 6, 2026, the novel will join many others are part of their Boy’s Adventure Books series.
I’m pretty excited since this will be my second published science fiction novel. Not bad for a retired guy.
Last but not least, I now have a substack where I’m doing some other writing related work not found here on this blog. Go ahead and pay me a visit.
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It is so sad when fear is the first feeling one has when crossing paths with a stranger!
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It is indeed.
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Dear James,
Wouldn’t it be nice to just exchange a smile and continue on? 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Sometimes it works that way. Actually, when I walk about the neighborhood, most of the time that’s what happened. On rare occasion, some women look at me with a bit of suspicion and though I understand why, it’s still too bad.
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it is sad when encounters produce that reaction – good write 🙌
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Never use the cover to judge what’s inside. Great story.
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Unfortunately, regardless of location, it is a frightful possibility for nearly all women when approaching a strange man. Sad, unfortunate, but true. A very good 100 words. Thank you.
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You’re welcome, Angela. I’m not unmindful of the fears of women and men can be dangerous. However, I wonder what the effect is on boys and men when they are taught by their caretakers who are often woman, that they are often considered a threat.
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A smile and a nod do wonders.
There are many reasons why a woman should feel fear as a first reaction. It can have roots in her culture, it can be what she has been taught by her parents, it can be the society at large which tells its members that all strangers are bad people, it can be her personal experiences and it can just be notoreity of the place (read city) where she lives
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I don’t doubt any of that and you’re right. Women should protect themselves and there are men who are predators. I just wonder about what happens to the boys being raised in a culture where they are taught that they are a threat. What do we take away from that?
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Yes, that’s something to ponder upon. I guess the sensitive ones become more sensitive and the roguish ones become more roguish.
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Excellent commentary on fear and lack of trust. Good story, James.
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Thanks, Nancy.
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Strange men and lone women is forever society’s folly.
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That’s the fear women have to live with all their lives. Men could do a lot to make that situation better, be supportive, educate their sons, be role models, but do they? Instead we see a wave of misogyny all over the place, wiping out almost everything that has been accomplished. It’s sad that the good men have to feel uncomfortable about being looked at with fear and susupicion. But it’s just that, uncomfortable, not life-threatening. Sorry for the rant, it’s a good, thoughtful story.
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The flipside is when some women react to their sons and other little boys as if they’re already a threat. I remember one time when my son was deployed (he served in the Marine Corps) and his first wife (they divorced some years ago) and my grandson, then still in a high chair, were living with my wife and me. She got mad at something the boy did and yelled at him, “I put up with this from your Daddy, I don’t have to put up with it from you.” I mean, the kid’s a toddler and he made a mess on the high chair. I’m not saying every Mom is like this, but if boys grow up receiving messages, not only from home, but from society, from the news, from social media, from well meaning commentaries that boys and men are always the problem, just exactly how will these boys see themselves as they mature and what expectations will they have for themselves when they become young men? I agree that the fear women experience when they go out in public is justified, but there are always two sides to every story. End rant. Thanks.
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No, rant on, you’re right. The way many women still raise the sons has a lot to do with it too. It was, and in many places still is, getting better. But there still is a long way to go.
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A thought-provoking story. I’m sorry for the reactions you sometimes receive. When we lived in China, in the early days, my husband, who is the same height as you with a full beard, would get reactions from little children. Some of the little ones would look up at him and actually burst out crying. Though he understood why, it hurt him because he loves kids! It was usually followed by embarrassed parents and some candy from my hubby. 🙂
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Over thirty years ago when I lived in Southern California, I worked for County Children’s Social Services as a child abuse investigator. I was aware that being tall meant that a lot of people, especially children, might find me intimidating. I discovered various ways of making myself be smaller including sitting on the floor and hunching over. I remember talking to these two Vietnamese boys (parents were from Vietnam but they were born here) and they asked how I got to grow so tall. In their case, they were more amazed than anything else. Also, some of the kids felt protected by someone who was taller than the person who hurt them. So it goes.
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Oh, my, what a wonderful and very difficult job you had, James. Well done!
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Thanks. It was “complicated” to say the least.
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You speak on a very valid point. This has been going on for an eternity, and unfortunately, I do not see a permanent fix ever coming. Who was it that said, Men are afraid women will laugh at them, and women are afraid men will kill them. (Google attributes it to Margaret Atwood, although I know I read it in Hild by Nicola Griffith as well.)
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