Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The woman ahead of me at the wine store stood a little crooked - not necessarily drunk but precarious, tilted one way at the hips and the other at the shoulders. Like she'd been stacked wrong and this was how she kept from falling down. The man told her the total and she fumbled absently with her wallet. She held it open before her face and considered it a moment, the top of a twenty dollar bill visible above the pocket. She turned to me.

"I'm sorry I'm holding you up."

She'd somehow left a Starbucks cup on the left side of the counter, out of her reach. She stood in place and extended her upper body languorously to drag it over with a wwssshhhh. Finally she was gone and it was my turn and the man made that slight, knowing smile and thanked me for my patience.

When I walked outside she was standing by the door, just standing there beside the door.