When a Stranger Knocks
by: Kae Galla
When a stranger knocks, do you answer? Do you open your door wide, with a smile? Do you hesitate? Do you peek through a window skeptically? Hoping that by getting a good look at the stranger, you’ll be given some insight as to the kind of person they are? Does something about the way they look really give you any insight into the kind of person they are?
Do you answer for the young man covered in mud and grease? The one with the torn jeans, messy hair, and bloodshot eyes? What about the middle-aged woman with polished shoes and a designer suit? How about the little old man with a walker, who can barely stand? Who would you open the door for?
Do you let in the helpless old man? The unassuming businesswoman? Maybe you opened the door for the deadbeat druggie if only to scold him for showing his face in your neighborhood.
What if I told you that the “businesswoman” is actually a patient at a local mental institution, who recently murdered her doctor and escaped using their identity? What if I told you that the “helpless old man” is much younger than he appears? That the walker he is relying on so heavily is hiding a gun, rope and duct tape. Oh, and that stressed out young man you so quickly assumed was a “deadbeat druggie?” His car broke down while rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital because her water broke just before he got home from working a sixteen-hour shift so they could afford a down payment on a new car.
Who did you let in?
Do you answer for the young man covered in mud and grease? The one with the torn jeans, messy hair, and bloodshot eyes? What about the middle-aged woman with polished shoes and a designer suit? How about the little old man with a walker, who can barely stand? Who would you open the door for?
Do you let in the helpless old man? The unassuming businesswoman? Maybe you opened the door for the deadbeat druggie if only to scold him for showing his face in your neighborhood.
What if I told you that the “businesswoman” is actually a patient at a local mental institution, who recently murdered her doctor and escaped using their identity? What if I told you that the “helpless old man” is much younger than he appears? That the walker he is relying on so heavily is hiding a gun, rope and duct tape. Oh, and that stressed out young man you so quickly assumed was a “deadbeat druggie?” His car broke down while rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital because her water broke just before he got home from working a sixteen-hour shift so they could afford a down payment on a new car.
Who did you let in?
