Everybody has a 'gripping stranger' in their lives, a stranger who unwittingly possesses a bizarre hold over you. Maybe it's the kid in cutoffs who mows your lawn or the woman wearing White Shoulders who stamps your book at the library-- a stranger who, if you were to come home and find a message from them on your answering machine saying 'Drop everything. I love you. Come away with me now to Florida,' you'd follow them.
Today, I met my gripping stranger.
