humbled

Bored and unable to take my lunchtime walk due to rain, I drove over to a nearby shopping center and hunkered down in the pharmacy waiting area with the current issue of People. As I flipped through the pages, an elderly man slowly walked past me and gingerly sat down at the blood pressure machine.

A couple of minutes later, I was distracted from the sordid details of Nick and Jessica’s split when an old woman, who smelled alarmingly of stale urine and cheap perfume, walked up to the old man and said, “I’ll be over in the toothpaste aisle when you’re done here.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m going to do this again because I think the cuff was too loose.”

She walked past me again and I thought, Jesus, lady. Pick up some freakin' soap while you’re at it.

The blood pressure machine stopped, and the man said, “Is someone else here?”

“Um, me,” I said stupidly. “Do you need help?”

“Can you read these numbers off for me, dear?”

So I stood up and checked the machine, telling him the numbers, which even to my untrained eye looked alarmingly high. He sighed and said, “I better ask Marjorie about this. Could you get her for me?”

“Sure,” I said, and then I realized I had no idea what she actually looked like. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get a good look at her face. What does she look like?”

He turned filmy eyes towards me and smiled. “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”