2005jul12. Today while waiting for a member of the service industry to finish my paperwork, I noticed Mary Roach’s Stiff on the counter. This is all sort of paraphrased.
She finished up the paperwork, I left and came back later after the thing that I was there for was completed. She had something to say.“Is that yours?”
“Yeah.”
“How is that ... I’ve been meaning to check it out.”
“It’s really good ... [something something] I’m occasionally working with Crime Scene Clean-Up and ---”
”Crime Scene Clean-Up!?!?!? Wow.”
“You know Crime Scene Clean-Up? Yeah ... I really want to be a mortician ... [something here about doing work at a local funeral home]”
“Yeah, back in the olden days when I was in high school, they made us take a test that would determine exactly what types of jobs you were suited for ... and almost everyone got “mortician.”
“I think I did something similar ... it said that I would like working with people ... but it didn’t say whether they’d be alive or not.”
“I just wanted to tell you something ... and don’t take this the wrong way ... but you know how people have particular odors? The scent they carry around with them? Well, your odor reminds me of my grandfather.”
“I’m leaving.” [FX: fake to exit door stage right]
“No ... see, I didn’t know if I should say anything. It just reminds me of my grandfather working in the garden. And that’s nice.”
“I'll take it as a good thing. But when you started in talking about my odor, I thought it was somehow going to tie into the thing with Mary Roach and Crime Scene Clean-Up.”
”No, you don’t smell like a dead person.” [starts laughing, we finish up the last bit of paperwork, she shouts past another customer as I’m leaving] “You smell much better than a dead person!”
This was, and forever more will be, the best conversation I’ve had with someone just after meeting them. I should of told her that if I get capped, I’d want her to do the clean-up. Aww.