Familiar faces in a small town

If there is one thing I absolutely detest (perhaps that is too strong a word) about living in a small town, is the fact that I see familiar people everywhere. Take today for example.

After dinner, I went shopping for clothes in The Store (not sure if it is big enough to be called a 'mall'), with Mimmy and Yuin-cheh. My first step into the place, I already spotted a familiar person. She and I were in the same Accounts and Malay tuition during Form 4 & 5. I could only remember her surname: Tan. What is her full name? Eeek! I have no idea! I am very terrible at remembering names. So instead of saying 'Hi' in that sea of people, I chose not to say anything and prayed REALLY HARD that she won't see me. And she didn't notice me at all. Phew!

I went to the first floor, where all the girls' and ladies' clothes are. Mimmy and Yuin-cheh helped me to look for nice New Year clothes. We looked around and we tried on a few clothes. Apparently, Mimmy's friend, whose two daughters are friends of both of my sisters, was also working in The Store as Shiseido's salesperson (well, something like that anyway). They chatted for quite some time.

As they chatted, I continued looking at other stuff - most notably Goggles, because I have always liked that brand.  The salesgirl at Goggles stared at me. "What's up with her?" I thought and backed off immediately. We continued our shopping spree. Along the way, we met with more familiar people. There was this salesgirl, whose elder sister was Yuin-cheh's classmate. Another woman working under the 'Dolly' brand was Mimmy's yoga friend.

Then, we came a full circle and went back to Goggles again. Mimmy spotted a cute jacket and asked me to try it. The salesgirl was there, still. This time, Mimmy noticed something. "Hey, she looks really familiar," she whispered to Yuin-cheh and I.

Both of us agreed, but we couldn't remember her from anywhere at all. Finally, as the salesgirl handed us the jacket that we wanted, Mimmy asked her: "You look awfully familiar. From where have I seen you before?" The girl flashed a sweet smile and said, "You too, Auntie. My mother is the lady who sold economy noodles in Antek Avenue."

The "Oooh" moment came. We finally recalled that we used to frequent a lady's stall in Antek Avenue. She operated her business from home and sold all sorts of noodles and desserts at RM1 per packet. This girl was always helping her mother at the stall.

Mimmy struck a conversation with the girl, asking about her mother and so on. Apparently, the lady had stopped selling noodles and went into direct sales instead for a couple of years now. And the girl is now studying in TAR College.

That was about the greatest  'familiar people' find we had in The Store today. Oh yeah, Shen Li spotted me when we were at the second floor. She was working part-time at the pillows department. Well, we did see a whole lot of other people in The Store - Mimmy's friends, Mimmy's brother's friends, my juniors and etc. But I wouldn't care to elaborate about them here.

And oh, the salesgirl's name? We don't know and we didn't ask. In a small town, you don't need to know a person's name to know them.