I have to relate this story. My cousin Les and I decided to go to Borders earlier tonight and get some Capachino(?), then go to Half Price Books which is a few blocks up. It was like 8:30. I asked the girl at the counter to add a little ice to mine because I don't like lava, so she did, but it was more than a little. By the time we pulled into the other lot, I had inadvertantly downed mine as we were talking. Needless to say I was talking very loudly and having a caffeine rush as we entered. A distinguished older gentleman turned and kind of frowned and then loudly cleared his throat. Les, who is ten foot tall it seems cleared his in an exact mimic of the other guys. I thought we'd get thrown out or at least cause an incident but nothing happened. Then over the loudspeaker it was announced that the store would be closing in ten minutes. I was bummed, so I'm like hurrying, which I hate to do in a bookstore. I got a few R.B. books and a cool 1971 Guiness Book of World Records, then I remembered that I wanted a copy of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-5. I asked this girl where I could find it because I couldn't sacrifice the time to search. She was walking to the aisle where it would have been if they had a copy when I noticed a Chinese symbol or writing tatooed on the back of her neck. I asked her what that symbol means, and she told me that when she got it, she thought it meant good luck and prosperity. She said she later had a Chinese friend, and he told her that what it really signified was death. Before my mind could work out the details of this situation, my mouth says "wicked", as in cool! She was like, "right on, that's how I look at it too." I quickly looked for books a brief few minutes and went up to pay. At the counter, she was the one waiting on me. I said, "whoa, death." She laughed and said it was her act of defiance in the face of death. When I got outside, Les, who had heard part, but not all of our conversation, asked me whats up with the chick. I replied, "death is waiting on me."

I thought it was very amusing, also serendipitious, because I am currently reading The Illustrated Woman in The Machineries of Joy, and enjoying the story very much.