weird line I heard on the street

Tuesday evening, walking through downtown in the rain, I came to a storefront with an awning so I stepped under the awning, to avoid the rain. I changed my course just one step over. There was a man standing there. I did not touch him or, I don't think, get anywhere near to touching him. He was also under the awning, at the end of it, sheltering himself from the rain, I think.  I stepped under the awning just past him and kept going. I was also feeling dizzy, with an unusual back ache that was causing me to struggle to stand upright and just keep walking.  And, as I stepped 'over', under the awning, I cleared my throat. I was not coughing. But even if I were, it is not illegal to cough on the sidewalk. What else can a coughing person do who is walking?  Are they supposed to beam themselves up?

So I stepped over and heard this guy say "Oh no you don't, you fat white blob of nothing, don't you come over here and cough on me."

I'm pretty sure he was talking to me but his venom did not immediately register because I was rushing. The dizziness, the backache. Plus I was sweating profusely. I have an ongoing intense sweating thing that my doc says is related to menopause. It's been years. It comes and goes.  I don't think its menopause.  It comes over me in waves and I can go from being dry to soaking in a minute or two.  Sometimes water drops literaly dream down my forehead and strangers will notice and ask me if I am okay. But it was dark, I was moving and no one saw my sweating, certainly not this guy. By the time he said that, my back was to him and I was a couple yards away and moving on.

Then I heard "Don't you spit that half gallon of your sour white milk on me".  When he had voiced the first insult, I had heard it but told myself he couldn't have been talking to me. I hadn't done anything but I had cleared my throat.  I considered looking back to see if he would have been looking at me just so I could be sure he was directing his unkind words to me.  But I felt bad. I was worried about racing home before I fainted.

I did not turn back to see him.  He sounded African American but maybe that conclusion is racist.  I wanted to turn back just to see if he was black or if he looked homeless. I had not really registered him when I took the step under the awning.  I had just registered a human standing still and I have measured my steps to avoid that human.

I think he must have been crazy.

When I heard that sour white milk line, I was a bit sickened.  By the time he said that, I was at least ten yards away. I had not spoken to him, not exchanged looks with him. I had not done anything. His radar that had detected my movement 'towards' him was a crazy person's radar, I think.

He spoke in a flat tone, as if he were detached from the content but the content was smart, acidic and unkind.

I still kept moving, got to the corner and turned, got past being able to hear him. He had not raised his voice. He had spoken in a conversational tone. I am sure he was talking about me and to me.

And for a brief moment, I felt fear.

I even considered going back to the corner, stepping into the Starbucks and going over to where he was to see him from where it was 'safe', from inside the store where other people would be around me. But I still felt dizzy and ache-y, still wanted to get home to my bed.

I didn't do anything wrong but I felt like I had. I felt slimed.