Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Today's Mitzvah

Coming out of the bookstore a while ago, I found myself caught in an unseasonably aggressive and chilly rain. I was wearing a not-very-waterproof jacket with no hood, but no matter; I actually rather like the rain.

A couple of hundred steps toward my destination, by the time I reached the main walkway, my hair (I do need a haircut) was dripping water down into my glasses. At about this point, I encountered a youngish Asian woman under an umbrella, coming the other way.

She paused, scowled ; cocked the umbrella to one side and asked:

You want me to walk you?

Translation: she was offering to turn around and shepherd me back to dry land. I said no thank you but I must add: today's mitzvah.

Afterthought: Or maybe the point was just that I was looking really old. The other day at the tire store, some beefy guy in his 40s addressed me as "young man." Not a mitzvah at all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

jack -- don't you know what "you want me to walk you" means when an asian woman asks you -- or, makes you that offer? change a few consonants man and see what you missed. jeesus. what did she look like?

Buce said...

There is a subtle but important distinction between a middle-aged well-wisher and a low-rent hooker. Making that distinction determines whether or not one stays out of prison.

Yeh, right, maybe she was a cop.