Where did you go to school?

I wait in line at the counter. An attractive blonde in her late twenties gets in line behind me. She is well-dressed and carries a purse. She acts like she dresses, as if she is used to money.

            “Hi,” I say, “where are you from?”

            Although she faces me, her eyes have no expression. For a moment I think that she isn’t going to respond. When she does, she makes it extremely clear that she does not appreciate being spoken to.  “Not from here,” she’s says.

I know I should say nothing more, but it is embarrassing not to. Why can’t we interact on a friendly level?

            “Oh,” I say, “where did you go to school?”

            “To USC,” she says. She thinks this has prestige.

            “I used to head their graduate writing program,” I say. “But my son and I went to Brown.”

            She suddenly smiles. “Oh,” she says.

            It is my turn to order. I do, then move past without looking at her.

            My responding to her as I did is the surest way to lose with this person. My interaction was rather silly, but the real problem is that on some level I care about her and she does not care about me.

Pick up I Am Everyone I Meet: Random Encounters on the Streets of Los Angeles for 99 cents right here!

(All Rights Reserved 2012 James P. White No part of this work may be reproduced without express permission of the author, except to use in reviews or interviews)