People watching

One of the bonuses of today's gig is that I got to indulge in people-watching.

There are some activities that turn the person into "furniture". We become invisible.

It was a game. I played Sherlock Holmes and try to "read" the people.

Some were easy. I thanked every person who was wearing a hat that suggested they had been in the military. I think I messed up one time. How was I to know that "Ranger" is a high-end brand of suspension parts for 4WD trucks?

Karen types were abundant. Karen hair-bobs, floral yoga pants and belts tightly cinching in coat at waist level, faces radiating disapproval.

Working men with carpenter pants and measuring tapes on their belts hurrying to the next place they needed to be.

Mennonites.

One couple sent mixed messages. The woman in a scarlet over-coat was older and moved slowly. Her companion was much younger and became distracted shortly before they came within my sphere of observation. She stopped and waited for him within a few feet of me.

I struck up a conversation. She was pushing a walker. I commended her on her "pushing" the envelop of comfort.

She informed me that her husband had died four months earlier. Her accent was faintly German or Polish. Looking closely at her, she was in her mid-80s even though she had clearly exerted effort to get all-dolled-up. She haltingly told me that her name was Margarite.

Her companion caught up with her. I assumed he was her son or more likely her grandson. He might have been early-mid twenties.

Nope. He was a neighbor. He had pink, polished finger-nails; lush, dark eyelashes and he carried himself...well...in a not overtly masculine way.

Margarite told me that he, her neighbor, had jollied her into stepping out and seeing the sights.

I am often guilty of judging too quickly and judging harshly. Had I met Margarite's neighbor under other circumstance I probably would have judged him in an unfavorable light.

BUT...given the context, I would have voted for Margarite's neighbor as hero-of-the-day without a second's hesitation.

Sometimes you cannot just look at somebody and have an accurate sense of their character.