Everybody has a «gripping stranger» in their lives [...] a stranger who unwittingly possesses a bizarre hold over you. Maybe it's the kid in cut-offs who mows your lawn or the woman wearing white shoulders who stamps your book in the library - a stanger who, if you were to come home and find a message from them on your answering machine saying "Drop everything. I love you. Come away with me now to Florida." You'd follow them."
Generation X - Douglas Coupland