Pink pajamas

Overheard awfully juicy sniffing and snorting from the area where a mother and little daughter in pink pajamas were sitting. I looked over at the little girl (about 7 years old), but it was the mother! Gross! I thought about handing her a Kleenex, but I was using mine. Another woman came in and I heard the snuffly, sniffy mom tell her the little girl was sick so she was keeping her out of school. Soon the mommy moved to another table to join her friend, leaving the little pink clad girl alone. She sipped a bit of her hot chocolate--mostly the whipped cream. Then she got up and started running around--not obnoxiously, but bored. Took a few more sips. Finally, mom was ready to go. She put the lid on the little (sick) girl's cup and began to drink it.

On the other side of my table I overheard a female attorney telling a male friend how much she hates her job--I think it involved family custody battles. She was complaining that when she loses, she eats the costs--sometimes thousands. The lies are just awful, she said. The children suffer. She was thoroughly disgusted with her clients, many in prison. Evil, she said. Just evil. Made me happy I'd been a librarian where the worst lies we'd get were "the dog ate it." (And in vet libraries that really happened.)

I suspect her friend was also an attorney, and good for him, he just listened and nodded. He offered no advice; no "can you top this" stories. That's what friends are for.

My Kleenex would have had a good work-out if I'd shared it today.