OT: A Funny thing happened on the way home today

[Possum]

I left work about 1300 today, (Saturday 2/24/07). It was a beautiful day in San Diego, or more properly in La Mesa, the eastern suburb of SD where I live. It was warm, and the sun was shining brightly, so I put the top down on my little black Miata. On my way, I stopped at the Vine Ripe Market, (a middle-eastern food store), to get a kebab plate to take home.

As I came out with my food, there was a Mercedes 500, (the big sedan), stopped halfway out of its parking slot next to my Miata. A very elderly woman was speaking through the open passenger-side window to the driver. They had a very brief exchange, then the Mercedes drove away. I was curious, but figured it was none of my business.

As I was backing out of my parking slot, the elderly lady caught my eye and obviously wanted to speak. I stopped and listened. "Can you drive me to Costco, please?", she asked in strongly-accented english. Now, the Costco was only about 4-5 blocks down the street, albeit back the way I came from, so I said, "Yes, ma'am, of course.".

I grabbed my own stuff out of the passenger seat, stuffed it all behind the seats, and then loaded her seven bags of groceries in my trunk.

Easing herself down into the very low seat of my car, she quipped, "Next time you bring bigger car."

During our brief ride together, I learned that her name was Pali, she was Iranian, and her husband was waiting for her at Costco.

"Iran is greatest country on earth", she informed me, "but the regime is very bad!"

"Khomeini was not a religious man", she continued, "His father was a hindu, and his mother was an englishwoman!"

Hey, I'm a waiter, so keeping a straight face when I want to howl with laughter is a job skill. I practiced it diligently, as I nodded and murmured polite agreement.

By that time we were at Costco, where I pulled into the fire lane close by the front door, piled her groceries into a cart for her, and saw her safely across the passing traffic. This last, by the way, was no small thing. A Southern Californian in pursuit of a vacant parking space will run down a little old lady without blinking

As she tottered off to meet her husband, I marvelled at her worldview, and how different it was from mine in so many ways.

Pali obviously had no qualms at all about asking total strangers for a short ride, and then trusting them. To a modern urban american, that's an eyebrow raiser in a few different ways.

I can't help but feel a certain scorn for the wealthy woman in her Mercedes 500, who was too good to give an old lady a ride.