Mysterious, Part Three

Continued from Mysterious, Part Two...


Adrian's Cafe boasts a mean egg salad sandwich. Adrian's also boasts an owner who does an unintentionally spot-on impression of Nathan Lane. And Adrian's Cafe boasts a particularly precocious counter girl.

I'd guess she's college age or so, but it's really quite difficult to tell these days. She's very chatty and enjoys engaging in conversation that delves into more than just the weather, often at the shock and embarrassment of the conversational participant.

Normally, I visit Adrian's flanked by a couple of co-workers, as it's one of our mutually favorite places to grab lunch. Recently, though, and on this day, I was on my own with only a book in hand as my company.

"So, whatchya readin' today?"

"Breakfast At Tiffany's."

At this point, she stopped what she was doing and stared at me as if I had just run over her dog. Repeatedly.

After about five seconds of being uncomfortably stared at, I said, "Is this a problem?"

She snapped out of her stupor as if a hypnotist had snapped his fingers.

"Oh! Oh, no; not at all! It's just that, well, I didn't think that you'd be reading a book like that."

The last time I was in, I was reading "On The Road" and she registered her disdain in saying she felt it was more of a "guy's book".

"Well, I like to read all sorts of things," I said.

She finally gathered herself and started ringing me up.

She asked, "So, what do you do?"

"I sit behind a desk all day, dreaming about the time that I get to go to lunch and read about more interesting things."

"Where do you work that you can dress like that?"

The definition of "that" was a gray and black striped collared shirt and reasonably fashionable jeans.

Rather than saying, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I instead said,

"I work at Cargill in Corporate Woods around the corner."

"Oh! Don't we deliver sandwiches to you guys a lot?"

"Indeed."

"Wow. You are mysterious."

This being the first time that anyone has actually recognized my innate mysteriousness, I was momentarily stunned. While she dreamily rang up my order, I tried not to ruin my newfound reputation.

xxxx

So, like I said, maybe it's the stubble. There doesn't seem to be any other common factors involved in all three of the aforementioned encounters. That is, not unless you count charm, humor, respect and politeness. But none of those factors have worked a lick in the preceding handful of years. So, I really don't know.

Mysterious?

Mysterious, indeed.