Saturday, January 10, 2009

Last night, the fam and I are out for dinner at our favorite local restaurant and, through the plate glass windows in the front, I see a dwarf couple getting out of their car and coming in.

Now it should be noted that I am fascinated by dwarves, I know it's wrong and I can't explain it, but they (like miniature horses*) make me happy. And I had no idea that we had one little person living out here, let along a couple - so I was like "SQUEEEE!" when I see them heading into the restaurant.

Now, keeping in mind that we had just seen the episode of "30 Rock" where Tina Fey semi-accidentally starts dating a dwarf, I quietly warn my son not to stare. He glances at them quickly, barely raises an eyebrow and turns his attention back to his pho.

The host asks them where they'd like to sit (which was probably pretty sensitive of him because the restaurant has a bunch of normal-sized tables in the center, but they also have several really tall tables along the window, which are probably more private, but tall enough that even my fairly-tall kid has to climb up), and they point to one of the taller tables which happens to be right in my sight line.

You know how when you're trying really hard not to notice something, it becomes a magnet for your eyes? Yep, after specifically telling my kid not to stare, I can't stop staring. And I can't help but wonder** if they moved here together, or happened to be here separately and happened to find each other - I mean, I've got no idea the saturation rate of little people in your average American town, but I can't assume that they met by accident...

I don't quite know where I was going with this (other than how much I like Vietnamese food, Tina Fey and little people), but it reminds me of my favorite little person story -

years and years ago, I worked at a call center in Phoenix and there was a little person who worked there, one afternoon, I walked into the break room just in time to see her shoving some coins into the soda machine and reaching up to push the button for a Squirt.



*I'm pretty positive that lumping dwarves with mini horses will send me straight to Hell***

** Yes, I know I'm an ass, but I'm not an ass just for the sake of being an ass, I'm just curious about people.

*** my husband will be going to Hell, too, because after we left, he wondered aloud if they'd ordered the shrimp.

Labels: adventures in shitty parenting