Rachel

This Saturday morning at about 7:30 am, Simon and I were walking back to our car from the farmer's market up on the capital square. As we passed by the corner by the new jail house, I couldn't help but notice this wonderfully dressed young woman, standing near the bushes, talking on her cell phone.

As we passed, I wished I'd had my camera, because she looked so photogenic. She was wearing a retro style halter dress. It was black with large white polka dots, and then accented with bright red trim around the sides that went up to tie behind her neck. Then just a little red taffita peeking out from under the skirt. She wasn't wearing shoes. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, and was curly and styled in such a way that it evoked Liz Taylor in her prime. Her blue eyes were made up with dark mascara and framed with dark arching eye brows. Stunning.

I thought I heard her sobbing as I stood at the corner waiting for the walk light. Simon and I were halfway across the street when something in my head told me to go back and ask her if she needed our help. So I turned Simon around and we approached her. She said she had just spent the night in jail and was just trying to get somewhere she could sleep. She didn't know where her shoes were. She thought she could stay with her friend in Mount Horeb. I said we would give her a ride there.

So we all walked over to the van. As we walked, I asked her what her name was, and she said; "Rachel." Wow. Another Rachel. She said she was out celebrating her birthday, which was coming up on Tuesday. She'll be 24. Wow. Another Rachel that is 23. She said she was with her cousin when they got stopped and she gave the cop her purse and the cop found narcotics in it. She said that they weren't her narcotics. She said she had gotten in a fight with her roommate and was now homeless -- living in her car.

I couldn't get over how much presence she had. Even after a night of being in jail. She had that "look." She seemed so vulnerable, but she had this intrinsic trashy kind of class about her that I just find really appealing, like Liz Taylor, kind of edgy and darkly beautiful. She told me she would be starting school in a couple of weeks for Aesthetics. At first I thought; "This woman is going to study the philosophy of art?" which is all I know of aesthetics. But she said it was learning "make up and style." That seemed more in line with what I was looking at.

She had a few tattoos, one on her ankle that I didn't ask about, one on her back shoulder blade of a Chinese character. I asked her what it said. "Courage, of which I have none" she answered. I asked about the one on her right wrist, two Chinese characters. "Family, I have a big Catholic family." She said her cousin Jacob was a tattoo artist and he did them for her.

Simon told her about his best friend Jacob. I commented that her family sounded like it had a lot of Biblical names. "Oh yeah, I have a sister Sarah, brothers Luke and Matthew. Totally."

It was like she stepped right out of a movie, or a comic strip. She was so "graphic" and poised and extremely fluid and congruent. Concise. Everything matched. She reminded me of my punk rock days. I guess she had style. And it seemed fitting that after a conversation with another friend of hers, I ended up dropping her off to meet him at the PDQ right next to the "Star Cinema."




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaCPVLmT1sM&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rXoeoGAI_g&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeqCx8CvnPU&feature=related