small town life

I'm tired of living in a small town.  I went running today, and I felt like everyone I passed just stared until I was out of sight.  It's the culture here.  If something's happening, you stare at it.  People do it with no qualms. 

After the run, I met my husband for lunch.  The person working the counter is one of the biggest busybodies I've encountered in this town, and I wasn't even slightly in the mood to chitchat with her.  My solution was to just not order anything.  My avoidance drove her so crazy that she started furiously sweeping right next to where we were sitting.  I moved closer to my husband, like we were sharing a really personal, intimate moment, until she eventually moved her sweeping elsewhere.  Then I snuck out of the restaurant while he threw out his trash.  As he left, she yelled, "Tell your wife I said hi!"  She wasn't going to let it slide. 

I feel like heart-diseased Barbara Hershey in Beaches: "Just leave me alone, all right?  That's all I want - is to be left fucking alone!" 

I just spent a few weeks traveling through Southwestern cities, where people were not the least bit interested in me or my activities.   I'm ready to live anonymously in a city again.  One year to go in this place - maybe I will be granted the power of invisibility in the meantime.