Urban Myths--Medusa

“She comes into the shop two or three nights a week. She waits until it’s dark out. I don’t think she wants to be seen. She usually wears a big hat and arranges her hair so that it covers a lot of her face. I think she was in an accident—something happened that left her face like that. Maybe a fire—part of her face looks all melted.

“The other night, when it was raining so hard, the wind must have blown her hat off and sprung her umbrella, because her hair was all wet and tangled from the rain. It hung in strands, like snakes around her head. And her face was visible. I’m used to her, so I can act normal around her. But the other customers, you could tell they were startled by her. When they saw her, they would look shocked and then they would get this stoney look on their face, like a mask, because they didn’t want her to see what they were thinking.

“I wonder if she was pretty before the accident. I’d like to think she has those memories. But maybe that makes it worse.”