New college town people (5 of 8): Gallery.

In the college town that I now live in, I was waiting for a bus to go drop off some couch cushions at an upholsterer way out on the edge of town, but the bus wasn't leaving quite yet for a half hour or so, so I popped into a second-floor art gallery like half a block up from the bus stop since a sidewalk signboard advertising it had caughten my eye, and so I ended up talking a lot with the (older) (grayer) (white) lady there, who I'm not sure was wearing a chunky-knit scarf, but definitely had that vibe, since she held down a second-floor art gallery in a college town.

And, right after we started talking, she said she'd be happy to sew my couch cushions for me and do those small cloth repairs, and I could go to an art shop and get foam and cut it myself and I could save a lot of money.

And, she also had some candy set out by the door, including a little ceramic mug full of Smarties, and when I was like, "If you don't mind, I'm going to get another one," and I told her that they hit the spot since I had actually woken up that morning with a craving for Bottle Caps, she was like, "Take them all," and she grabbed the mug and motioned it to me like I should dump it into my handbag.

"I need to sell the mug anyway," she was like.

And, we talked more, and it turns out that she was originally from the city that I had just left, and after mentioning the neighborhood that she grew up in and where her family moved to, I was like, "I'm sorry if this question sounds weird, but is your family Lithuanian Jewish?", since it sounded like (Lithuanian Jewish) biographies that I knew from working at the resthome.

And, her family was!

She also said that all three of her kids are in the city that I just left, and so I don't have to explain to her why I left. She says her daughter does television event production stuff, and so a lot of times she's out at different park buildings in worse neighborhoods, and for months now she calls her every time she's out someplace, when she's there and when she's back, since she wants to check in since she's afraid of getting carjacked. And, she never used to do that.