I can't make this stuff up

So I am sitting in the teeny tiny coffee shop here in Milan, The Lighthouse Cafe, finishing up that newsletter copy that is now overdue... Scott is painting the baby's room so I can't be around the fumes for a few hours. When I got here at 9 a.m., there were just three other people here. I figured that would be it, since it's like 2 degrees out today, with gale force winds.

But more have wandered in here since, including a woman I assumed either had Alzheimers or wasn't all there... I mean, you can tell something's just off with her. Big thick Coke bottle glasses, shuffles when she walks, and has the worst hat hair I've ever seen. Wearing an old cardigan sweater and sweatpants, with thick socks and beat up sneakers. She seems to be a regular because she was chatting a while with the owner (at least the guy I assume to be the owner) about it being OK to "practice." No idea what she's talking about.

Of course, I'm all comfy here in the corner on a fairly nice couch with a pillow behind me, laptop on what lap I have left, and I didn't even notice the piano in front of me until she sat down at it. She propped up what seems to be a beginner piano book, and starts playing "How Much is That Doggie in the Window," then "Amazing Grace," "On Top of Spaghetti," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and few other short pieces. The guys behind the counter both encouraged her after almost every song at first, and she just waved them off, smiling a little. Real basic, playing slowly but not too badly; she's definitely not any better than I am on piano. But she's got the cohones to sit in a public place and practice, which I don't! I don't even like to practice in private, because I can't stand to hear myself screw up the music like I do. She is talking to herself as she practices, griping about having to turn the page in the middle of a song, and making comments like, "Oh I see, it's a flat..."

I think the piano playing is annoying to the people at the booth next to me, three yuppie-type young people who are chatting about either homework or a business plan... they keep looking over at her with raised eyebrows and singing along sort of condescendingly. The guy sitting at the table looks EXACTLY like a guy that used to date a suitemate/roommate of mine at EMU, I remember her name being Allison (but we frequently just called her bitch because she NEVER cleaned the bathroom and was having loud sex all the time with whoever would sleep with her). She was in the band at EMU and played clarinet, I think. I am tempted to go over and ask him if he ever dated anyone named Allison, but he looks so young, I don't know if it could be him. I have no clue what his name was... I do remember him being a nice guy though.