Naomi was taken aback. In fact, she quite nearly fell backwards with the shock of the woman's words as they came crashing down around her reddening ears. No, she had certainly never been so offended before in her life, and she most certainly had never felt so directly attacked. On her own street, no less. Yes, despite the fact that New York City would never be home, she liked to at least believe that in this small corner of District 5 she might go to and from her apartment unmolested. But even here, it seemed, the stress and high tension of today's world seeped in to make things difficult. Naomi was "just a person," she knew that, but reconciling that with her former life as the First Lady of Colorado did not come easily. But, by God, if nothing else, she knew something, whatever this woman might say!
"That may be so," she sputtered, leering at the woman over the bridge of her nose, "but you were the one who--ugh!" She stopped herself with a jab of her hand out into the air, and ran her tongue over her front teeth, puckering her lips in frustration. Arguing had never gotten anyone anywhere, she reminded herself. She didn't have time for this.
"Look," she sighed, taking a moment to close her eyes and regain her composure. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. I...got called in to work unexpectedly, and I'm running late." And the puppy had made a mess of the rug, and she had not gone to bed early enough last night, the trash still needed to be taken out, and the bathroom lightbulb had burnt out while she was brushing her teeth. But this callous woman would not be interested in all that, Naomi was sure of it. "Look, what was your name again?"