yesterday i was at savers looking for a few things for my halloween costume. i will not at this time tell you about my halloween costume.  anyway, i was looking for a specific sort of shirt and a specific sort of skirt, and i’d already perused WOMEN’S SLEEVELESS TOPS and WOMEN’S SLEEVELESS BLOUSES and WOMEN’S VESTS and WOMEN’S VINTAGE and WOMEN’S LOUNGEWEAR and UNIFORMS and 2-PC SLEEVELESS and CAMISOLES and SHORT SLEEVE TOPS and SHORT SLEEVE BLOUSES and SWEATER VESTS without any luck.  everything was too large or too ugly or didn’t fit right or wouldn’t work with my idea.  i moved on to the girls’ section, thinking that if everything was too big in the women’s, maybe i’d find something there that would fit.  GIRLS’ SHORT SLEEVE TOPS looked pretty meager, but i went over and flipped through it anyway.  “excuse me,” said a small voice next to me.

i looked over to find not a child but a woman, a small asian woman in jeans and a dirty t-shirt.  “yes?” i said.

“you want to work for me?”

“what?” i said, not sure i’d understood her properly.

“you have job?”

“yes.”  she was standing awfully close to me.  i moved over to GIRLS INFANT DRESSES.  she followed me.

“you have job you no like to work? you come work for me.”

“what?”

“fifty dollar an hour you come work for me.”

“no, thanks,” i said.

“fifty dollar an hour,” she repeated.

“no,” i said.  “thank you.”  she shuffled away, leaving me with the BOYS UNIFORMS.

did this woman walk into savers just to offer people jobs?  did she go other places, too?  did she single me out or did she ask all the other shoppers, too?  if she chose me specifically, why me and not somebody else?  how long is the commute for this job?  is there a health plan?

i think that speculating too much about what exactly a small chinese woman wanted me to do for fifty dollars an hour would make me depressed.