A Lesson in Class

I stopped in at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe Friday for a wrap. Good wrap, interesting clientele. The place was full of the "beautiful people". Table after table of well-dressed and quaffed women - mostly young, healthy looking women with wedding rings - burdened with diamonds. At the table next to me there were four of them eating salads and teasing the youngest of the four about her upcoming marriage. The fortyish brunette in the blue linen asked the bride-to-be if she thought she's ever be a trophy wife. "That's what I've been working on since I was fourteen," she replied half joking. Then they talked about their husbands (and husband-to-be) in an alarmingly utilitarian manner. One said she was pleased that her husband was busier these days because it gave her more time to travel and shop without having to be around him as much as she had to be last year. Another woman, younger and blond, told the others her husband was interested in getting into politics and planned to run for city council. Then she remarked that he was stupid enough to succeed at it.

At another nearby table four 30-ish ladies were comparing their opinions of various clothing lines and their designers. They were talking about a trip to Dallas this weekend to Neiman Marcus. One of the ladies had a baby in a stroller next to her. They were ignoring the baby. A middle aged woman on her way out the door turned around to admire the baby and gurgle at him. The baby's mother turned to acknowledge the attention being paid to her baby. As her eyes caught the eyes of the admirer she smiled but her eyes quickly dropped to scan the stranger's clothing. The smile quickly disappeared as the mother took in the other woman's mundane clothing. When she got to the tennis shoes the smile was entirely gone and she turned back to her friends.