So the most hilarious thing happened to me this week. I was hanging out at the library (’cause that’s how I roll), and I decided to pick up a movie or two to watch with my family. I walked over to the movie section and started looking for something interesting. About that time, a young guy came over and began to do the same thing. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, just to make sure he wasn’t premeditating stealing my purse or anything, and the impression came that he reminded me of someone I know. I checked again: tall, slim, beard, shoulder-length brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail. Whoa. Weird. He really did remind me of a friend from school–a friend I had previously thought to be so unique that I’d never find anyone else who even came close to reminding me of him. Apparently there’s been some cloning going on…
The guy reached for a copy of the original Pink Panther, then plopped down on the ground cross-legged and began to talk to himself, debating whether he should get that movie, or another off-beat comedy. Oh, my word, I thought, he not only kinda looks similar, he kind of acts like him! Weird!
I reached past the guy for a copy of Pride and Prejudice, and he asked me whether i’d ever seen Pink Panther. I told him I hadn’t, and that’s where it began. From there, we introduced ourselves, and began to talk about movies…and books…and musicals…and theatre…and people in general…and humour…suffice it to say that we kept talking. For a solid hour. Wow!
After about an hour, and having migrated to the very center of the library (no harm in being clearly visible, for safety), he left to go get some dinner, but not before he had mused several times on how amazing it was to find another person who still read books, and not only that, who read a variety of books, and appreciated them, and not only that, someone other than his girlfriend who would stand there and talk with him for an hour and understand all the topic changes (which happened for him, as for me, on average once every 14 seconds). Also not before he had given me not only his name, but his place of employment, and a rough idea of his schedule, and where he likes to hang out…bad idea. i didn’t give him any of those besides my name. I guess I’m not very threatening looking.
As he left, I went back over to the movie section, to hunt for a couple movies–what I’d planned on doing an hour ago, basically. As I reached for a movie, I heard a man behind me whisper “Pssst…miss!”
Great. A 40-year-old man. Apparently I was attracting all the random men that day?
“Can I help you?” I asked. “Go after that boy and give him your number! I think he likes you!” the man replied.
Matchmaking. Just another free service offered by your local library. For your convenience, we now have 40-year-old men to match up the young people who run into each other in the library.
I assured the man that I had it under control. Should’ve told him I was taken (admittedly, that’d be “reserved for my future husband”, but “taken” would probably have gotten him off my back easier)!
So I went home and realised: my sisters were at camp. Sad day. I couldn’t even tell them right away, so I wrote them to tell the story. I can just see their faces when they read the letter: “We haven’t bee gone 8 hours, and she’s already getting picked up by random guys in the library! She can’t function without us!”
Ah well. They say variety is the spice of life. And I’d say randomness of this sort is quite a bit of variety. Spicy!
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