the underwear drawer

the other one

There's a young Asian couple on the 15th floor in our building that had a baby a few months ago. I don't really know them except by sight, and noted them mainly because they're two of only about five Asian tenents in the building.

Earlier this evening, I went down to the lobby to pick up our take-out dinner from Curry in a Hurry and bumped into another tenant, an older Park Avenue-type woman just coming in from walking her dog. We stood waiting for the elevator together and made some pleasant chit-chat. Then...



PARK AVENUE-TYPE LADY
And how's the baby?

MICHELLE
Baby? I don't have a baby.

MICHELLE'S INNER MONOLOGUE
At least, I don't think I do.

PARK AVENUE-TYPE LADY
Oh wait, you're the other one!

MICHELLE'S INNER MONOLOGUE
"Other one?"

MICHELLE
(Realizing, then covering)
Oh, you mean the other Asian woman, she and her husband have that really cute little baby on 15...

PARK-AVENUE LADY
Yes, yes, exactly! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! You look so much alike!

MICHELLE'S INNER MONOLOGUE
Well...not really.

MICHELLE
(Laughing)
Don't worry about it, it happens all the time.

PARK-AVENUE LADY
Sorry! Sorry!
(Exits elevator)

At least she didn't ask me when my due date was or something like that. That would have been way more akward. One time my mom asked a woman when she was due, and the woman replied (in a surprisingly good-natured way), "I'm not pregnant. I'm just fat."

Heh. "The other one."

Currently reading: "The Corrections". Just took another trip to Barnes and Noble today and picked a few new treats out for all those frigid, early-morning commutes next month. Of my fiscal responsibility, Joe noted the other day (because he wants me to start thinking about getting a new computer), "You don't really spend that much money on yourself. Only food and clothes. And books. Lots of books." Speaking of which, the book club is updated through July 2004.