Books: true story

A sorta wacky woman was in earlier today and bought a couple of books (the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book and How to Survive the Loss of a Love and two gift certificates (one for the police officer who recently arrested her daughter for being drunk and disorderly, the other one for the public defender who took her case).

I got a bit of speil on how bad alcohol can be ("I mean, some people drink and it's fine, but not my daughter!") and her efforts to wise up said daughter and then she was away. She was one of those people who's a little on the edge but not actually crazy, and seemed pretty distraught about her daughter which wasn't helping her mental state any.

So just now she comes back in, looks around the store, spots a guy browsing the art history section and bee-lines for him.

woman: excuse me, are you buying books?
guy in art history: well, I'm looking...I'll probably buy a few.
woman: because I have this gift certificate I bought, but the policeman that arrested my daughter said he couldn't accept it, can I give it to you?
guy in art history section: (bemused) Sure!
woman: thank you so much! (runs out of store)
guy in art history section: (to me) Geez, I should come in here more often!