That did not just happen again! Laurine thought, as she stared with indignation at the man who had jumped ahead of her in the queue. He was not much younger than she, and for once she would not accept his affront with nothing more than a stony silence.
Laurine had never enjoyed initiating an altercation, but even if he had been an impetuous youth, she doubted that this time she could have stopped herself from uttering, “I was in this line long before you.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind,” was the rude interloper’s instant reply.
“Of course not. Why would you? I’m the one who has been waiting for service.”
With little more than a glance of disdain, he carried on as though he was swatting a pesky mosquito on a muggy day.
On three separate occasions this week, and it was only Thursday, someone had barged in front of Laurine. At least, yesterday at the Safeway when it had occurred, and she facetiously asked the young woman standing behind her in the queue if she could see her, they had shared a chuckle.
Her apparent invisibility was really starting to irk Laurine, and she pondered when she had first become aware of its existence. Unlike many women her age, she chose not to dye or tint her hair, never having any interest in changing her natural colour. And, she was not about to start now, particularly when her hairdresser of many years was far from the only one to admire her striking silver hair.
Still, it was hardly worth making a scene at the Main Post Office. Since becoming an author, Laurine was such a frequent patron, sending her books near and far that she was a favourite with all of the personnel, and she was averse to tainting her reputation because of an ill-mannered member of the opposite sex.
It had taken Laurine Schaffer years to realize her dream, and whatever the reasons now for her often not being visible to people, she was determined to no longer allow others, and her own expectations, as well as a multitude of external forces, control how she defined herself, or to mask her authentic identity and humanity.