Olga can't figure me out. She seems fascinated with me in spite of herself. She deplores my lack of fashion sense, but always apologizes if she says something really critical.
The other day she was hanging up the phone as I walked past her cubicle, and she said to me:
"Oh, I was just talking with a friend of mine. He would be perfect for you."
"Really?" I say, thinking how funny it would be if a chance comment from Olga would find my soul mate.
"Yes" she said. He's intellectual and nerdy and not really handsome, so I wouldn't mind someone like you."
I'm speechless, and she realizes that it did not sound like a complement, so she tries to explain:
"I don't mean it like that -- but he's really nice and he would be perfect for you."
"Really?" I say again, not quite so enthusiastically.
"Yes". Then she pauses and adds with dramatic flair, and with the italics clear in her voice, "but I suppose you are looking for someone who 'embraces Christ'."
"Yes, that's true" I reply, wondering how she even knows the terminology. But before I can think about this she continues.
"Of course, he is married, so that would be a problem"
"Yes, that's definitely a problem".
"And, of course, he's sickly".
By this time I'm wondering what she thinks of me. Just as I think I have finally escaped the conversation she says:
"I hate to see you limiting yourself".
