Click image at left to see video.  Worth it, I promise.

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I was waiting for my son today in a small, crowded waiting room. 

Several people’s cell phones went off while I was there, team fight songs and choruses of The Who playing loudly for the rest of us to enjoy.

GOOD!! OLE!!! ROCKY TOP!! sang an orange purse,  as an older woman in an embroidered denim outfit fumbled to answer it.

The man who kept forgetting his paperwork at the window spoke softly into his RAZR about the weather and his love for the caller.  His beloved, however, had such a resonant bass voice that I’m sure he sings opera.

The lady in the denim outfit worked out some details for a dinner party before hanging up.

Finally, just as I was settling into the latest news about Brangelina, a blonde woman in a bright pink sweater answered her phone. 

“HELLO?  YES?  YES, I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE!  HA HA HA!” 

I pointedly put down my magazine and glared at her, but she didn’t notice. 

“WHAT?   I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE.  HA HA HA!!   ARE YOU A SCORPIO? 

Yes, as it happens, I *am* a Scorpio.

“I’ll TALK TO HIM.  I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE.  I KNOW!!! HA HA HA!”

The scorpion  leaned forward.  “Excuse me.  Could you please take that into the hall?” 

She glared at me. ”“Are you going to come and GET me if they call my name?”  

“No,” I said, suddenly abashed that an insensitive person would actually continue to be insensitive.   “Maybe, um, you should call them back later?” 

My face felt hot.  Clearly she wasn’t going to budge.  Everyone else in the waiting room was pointedly looking at their own magazines and feet.  My last chance.  “It’s just… really loud.” 

How lame. 

But who did I think I was, Captain Kirk?  Capable of changing an entire civilization with a single speech?   The woman continued her conversation just long enough afterwards to make the point that I didn’t have one.  A point, I mean.

However, when her phone rang again a few minutes later, she quietly turned it off, pointedly looking at her own magazine.