Mama, The Homie and The Hippie

“Do you like Beyonce?,” is all I heard as I was daydreaming and about to walk into my happy place - the bookstore.  I can’t remember what I was daydreaming about, but it was definitely not Beyonce.  I snapped out of my daydream about to enter the bookstore, where I could get lost for hours in the stationery section alone.  (I must’ve been a writer in my past life…)  Then i heard it again, only louder this time.  “Hey, do you like Beyonce?”

I turned around since at this point it was probably not the voice in my head, because it never once had mentioned Beyonce in the past, the voice in my head, that is.

I turned around and there he was “a Homie” as he introduced himself, “Hi, I’m a Homie.”  He took off his hat and bowed revealing tattoos on his neck, face and shaved head.  I think the only place I didn’t see one was up his nostrils, but then again I didn’t look that close. 
I said,  “Hi?” (as a question.)  I was not sure what Homie wanted from me, but decided to stop and find out.  Maybe he was a fan of Jew Mama (because many people stop me and recognize me from my blog…ok, they don’t…but maybe HE was different). 

Homie continued,  “Why did you walk away when I asked if you liked Beyonce?”  I answered, “because I was thinking about all the books I came to purchase.” 
“But how could you be excited about books anyway?”  Ok, now I was officially having a conversation with Homie in the middle of the bookstore…so I did what any other non-Homie Mom in a hurry would do and I continued the conversation. 
“You’re also in the book store, you tell me…”
“I’m only in here because I followed you.”  At this point I began to worry. 

He continued, “I just saw you and and wanted to tell you about my latest CD because you look like a Beyonce fan and hip-hopper (first time I’ve ever been told I look like a hip-hopper, maybe my Mommy garbs of jeans, a sweatshirt and flip flops merited the hip-hop look).
Homie ended up telling me all about his new hip hop project with a Beyonce-like singer and a CD that was only $5, now soliciting inside of a book store.  Although I may have looked like a Beyonce-hip-hop lover (to Homie, anyway), I was not.

Even though I didn’t buy a CD, I wished him well on his journey of hip-hopping and CD sales.  He said that although I was not a fan of “the hip-hop,” I was still cool.  Cool in Homie’s book was alright with me.

I continued through the book store and couldn’t help but think of Homie and his impression of me.  Of course he was probably just trying to sell his CDs.  I finally found what I was looking for - some books for my son, not me this time.

I headed to the register to pay and encountered a hippie wearing a tie-dyed tee with dreads in his hair.  He began to ring me up, “You are a country music fan, right?”  I was SO not a country music fan, as much as I was not a hip-hopper. 
“Actually, I’m not a fan.  I appreciate good music, but it is just not my thing,” I said once again.
He seemed shocked, “Really?”
“What made you think I was a country music fan, just curious.”
“I don’t know, you just look like it.”  Should I have told him that moments before I looked like a hip-hopper and nothing changed from the time I left the children’s section to the register? 
He continued, “Oh, so what type of music do you like?  Favorite band?”
I answered truthfully, “Metallica.” 
“You don’t seem like the Metallica type.”  But I did seem like the hip-hopper or country music “type?”
“Well, I guess you really can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” I replied.  (Bad pun intended.)