A Girl Named LisaOne day I was working in the seafood department when I saw them...well, she actually did. I was wondering what his name was. She was about 13 or 14, maybe a little older, but definitely not old enough to drive yet, or maybe she was. She was with her family, I think… no, I guess. Her father (I assume) was a big guy with a red sash on his waist and a jacket with a yin-yang patch on the right front and she was black. The jacket, I mean. His mother (I assume) was there too, and... I don't remember anything about her. There was another child there, younger than her, and I assumed it was her brother. She was beautiful. Not in the way of a gorgeous model or in the way of a cute puppy, but in the kind of beauty that is just, Plato's beauty, you know? And I don't know why or how, but when I saw her I had the feeling that you knew something was going to happen but you don't know what but you can just say it but it wasn't of love. A bit like butterflies but higher and stronger. Maybe butterflies on steroids. And the feeling remained, a kind of anticipation. And she left and I went to work, but I happened to look across the store towards the milk, and there she was. And she looked at me. No, not against me. It was like. . .like when you're driving on a familiar stretch of road and you know it so well that you look straight ahead and almost forget you're driving. It was like she knew me. It was like she was me. And then she turned toward the cookie aisle and left. It's been over a year and I still haven't seen her in the store. I honestly didn't know what I would say if I saw her, but I tried to imagine it. I saw his father (I assume) every week in the store, the same red belt, the same yin-yang jacket, as he bought fruit, eggs, bread, beer and toilet paper. But he never bought fish. And I never said anything to him, and he never noticed me or said hello. But she noticed me. She knew me. And one day I knew she'd be in the store again, and I'd see her standing by the milk, and she'd see me standing by the frozen fish..