In which David has Two Strange Conversations & a Coincidental Horoscope

On most of my trips to Starbucks I never talk to anyone beyond pleasantries. It's a coffee shop, not a coffee house.

But Saturday I found myself in two simultaneous inexplicable discussions, both with twenty-somethings - probably college students - half my age at most. Conversations One and Two overlapped; I'll tell about them separately.

Conversation One: a young man sat next to me and started asking questions out of the blue. "Are you from Pasadena?" "Married or Single?"

He kept it up "Where's your wife?" (My answer: "In front of a computer.") "Is she at home?" "What kind of car do you drive?"

"What country are you from?" I found this really surprising, even disconcerting. When I told him that I was Born in the USA he asked "Where are your parents from?"

Conversation Two: another young man had been walking about. At one point he was standing 10 feet away. I was looking off into space. He said to me "Are you okay?" I was worried by this. "Do I look like I'm having a problem?" Just his way of saying "Hello, how are you?" he explained. He wandered off.

At one point I remember sitting between these two, taking a deep breath and thinking "This is very weird."

Conversation Two returned and started into a long, fast monologue about students learning to do jobs "like becoming a medical doctor or something lower" and then going for a job interview and answering all the questions but not having any idea what was expected of them. I wondered if he was on drugs. When he left again I turned to Conversation One "Did you understand that?" "Yes." he said. But I was baffled.

At home I told the story to Leslie. For some reason I wondered "Can my horoscope explain this?" I almost never read them. Here it is, from the L.A.Times: Virgo Saturday 11/12/05:

"There's much to process as the world swirls around you. You're not sure what to think. If you don't immediately see the lesson or allow yourself to feel the emotions involved, don't worry. Everything in its time."

Of course I don't believe a word of it. No wait. The horoscope was good advice. Oh, I don't know what to think. There's a reason the Astrological Forecast is on the Comics Page. If I eventually figure out what those two guys were talking about do I have to keep reading my horoscopes?

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