kind of injury. Plus keeping busy so the time would pass. A flurry of shopping; but when she got home she didn't even bother taking things out of the sacks and boxes. A book, another book, another. All dog-eared at page ten or twenty, all stacked beside her bed. She even typed up her resume in the vain thought that it was time for her to get out in the real world and earn a living. When she typed, "Last position: Fiancee. Reason for leaving: Replaced by shiksa," she knew it wasn't going to happen.
"Do what I do," her mother said. Which is how Ruth ended up at the beauty parlor getting her nails done and her hair cut, dyed, and permed at the same time - which was going to be terrible on her hair and her allergies, but she'd come out of it looking like a new woman.
"You're so beautiful," said the old woman next to her. "I can't think why you'd want to change that gorgeous long hair."
It was actually a marginally creepy thing to say, especially because of the way the woman looked at her - are there ninety-year-old lesbians who cruise the beauty parlors? - but Ruth was polite. "A change is as good as a rest."
"So what was it, a man or a job?"
"What?"
"This angry self-destructive action," said the old lady. "This obliteration of your self. Either you lost a job or you lost a man."
"Forgive me," said Ruth, "but... have we met?"
"We're meeting now," said the old woman. "You need more than a bob-and-dye, sweetie. Get him back."
"You mean get him? Or get back at him?"
"Whatever."
The woman's eyes were dancing with delight.
And then, abruptly, there was only a wasp sitting on the chair beside her. It walked around the fake leather for a few minutes, then flew out the door.
I'm losing my mind, thought Ruth.
She worried for a little while about a woman who turned into a wasp - or a wasp into a woman, whichever. And then she worried about depression so deep it led to hallucinations, and whether Prozac was really as good as people said it was.
And then she thought about what the woman said. Get him back. Get him back. And for the life of her she couldn't decide what she herself wanted. Revenge or reconciliation?
She walked along the street, looking for her car. Where had she parked? That's another sign I'm losing my mind, she thought. Lately I don't remember things like where I parked or whether I had breakfast. Just since he dumped me. The bastard. That bitch.
Sitting on the sidewalk, leaning against the wall opposite her car, was a homeless woman. No, she was dirty and all, but she wasn't begging. She was selling. A little cloth was spread out before her, with weird little bags and corked vials and tiny jars stopped up with clay. Ruth stopped and looked at her wares.
The gypsy reached behind her and took out a small piece of paper. On it were written the words Get him back.
This was too weird. Especially because a moment later, the words on the paper changed into nothing but meaningless squiggles. The paper said nothing at all, or at least it wasn't an alphabet she had ever seen before. She must have hallucinated the words she read.
The gypsy held up a tiny bag and pointed to Ruth with her other hand.
"I don't want it," said Ruth.
The gypsy woman smiled. She had no teeth.
"This will make him love me?"
The gypsy woman thought for a moment, as if translating laboriously. Then she shook her head, set down the bag, and picked up a little clay-stopped jar.
"This one, then?" asked Ruth. "And he'll forget the bitch and love me?"
The gypsy nodded, grinning.
"How much?" I can't believe I'm asking. I can't believe I'm going to buy it.
But there she was, pulling her wallet out of her purse. "Hmm? How much?"
The gypsy just kept smiling.
Ruth pulled out a five. The gypsy didn't seem to respond at all. A ten? No. A twenty. What's happening to me?
The gypsy took the twenty. She looked dubious. Then she beamed at Ruth. She wasn't completely toothless. She had a couple of blackened molars.
"How do I use it?" asked Ruth. "I mean, do I wear it? Eat it? Drink it? Serve it to him?"
At this last phrase, the gypsy nodded vigorously.
"Right, like he and I are going to have a picnic," said Ruth. She felt cheated. But how stupid did she have to be,