We were in the Starbucks on Clark St. in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. This was before Covid, so there was a fixins bar where you added your sugar, milk etc. There was a shelf above the tabletop which held spares of the items put out for customer use.
"Do you always share such personal details with strange men in coffee shops?"
I’d just finished my additions when someone came up behind me and said “Excuse me.” I glanced back and smiled at the very attractive woman of around forty. She smiled in turn and said “They’re out of the stevia packets. Could you please reach up and get some for me? I’m still sore from my breast implants.”
As I was retrieving the sweeteners, exactly what she had said registered. I handed her the box of packets and asked her “Do you always share such personal details with strange men in coffee shops?”
“Well, it’s no different from guys discussing their power tools!”
Gina and I laughed about that one for days.
Dave VentreA hyper-annuated wannabee scientist with a lovely wife and a mountain biking problem.
Thanx for the laugh Dave, sounds like the lady had designs on you!
This is a great story, Dave. Thanks for the laugh.
That made me laugh too. Good story. Funny how people can blurt out all sorts of things to anonymous folks. Except that in a small town you take your chances. Half the time it seems the person ends up being related to someone you know…
A mark of a good story is to leave the listener/reader wishing for more, wishing it weren’t already over. Oh my lord would I have enjoyed if you had managed to extend that dialogue so I could hear a bit more from this “ballsy” or should I say “breasty” woman! “Power tools,” indeed.
There have been very few times that I have ever wished to be single after meeting Gina. This might have turned into one of them. But more likely, not.
Wow! That really was personal info to share! Some call me the “Queen of TMI”, but I’m not sure that even I would have shared that one (much less gotten the procedure). You seem to have handled it with perfect aplomb. Good for you and thanks for sharing this gem with us!
Only upon reading this some months later do I fully appreciate the wit and whimsy that led to your choice of a title for your piece! One of the “top 10 titles” of Retrospect stories.