mercedo's Journal: Touchstone

I recall a woman who I met in a foreigner's bar -The Big Apple, now it's gone, more than ten years ago. She was a nice person. One very late night I tried to touch her tabacco case, saying you smoke, aren't you or something. She was furious about me saying 'Don't touch it' with very loud voice. I was very amazed, and said I was just asking if she smokes. She said she extremely dislikes her any belongings to be touched by anyone. I thought she cannot be my friend any more. She might have thought that the act of touching changes the ownership, which is absolutely not.