Taraweeh antics

It is crowded upstairs in the mosque, but downstairs where I am is more relaxed, even cosy. As some people leave in between prayers, the rest shuffle to fill in the spaces. I end up standing next to this young man, about my age I would think. As we resume the prayer, I realize he's one of "those people" who take the injunction on making sure there are no spaces between worshippers a little too literally. His right foot has moved to rest in contact with my left, our little toes touching. His left foot is doing the same with the person on his other side. There are few things while praying in congregation that I find more annoying and distracting than physical contact at the feet level.

At least I have socks on, but it's still too close for comfort. I discretely move my foot ever so slightly, less than an inch, but enough so that it now ceases to be in contact with his foot. A split second later, his foot moves to fill that miniscule gap. I wait a couple of seconds, my mind struggling to focus on the imam's recitation while dealing with this repeated discomfort, and repeat the manoeuvre. He doesn't get it. His foot moves again, I move mine once more. Still, no lessons learned. I am beginning to grow angry.

I fail in my repeated polite signals that I am not comfortable with the guy's foot touching mine. Finally, I decide to try a different approach. I wait a few seconds, and instead of moving my foot away this time, I move it a little closer into his foot, and dig it into the carpet as far as it can go. Let's see how Mr. No-Gaps likes a little discomfort of his own. It works. He voluntarily moves his foot away. I smile and we continue our prayer, next to each other but thankfully no longer playing games with our feet.