Zeus and Buddha

Once, when I was in high school, I took a trip to the Minnesota Institute of Art with my friend, Paul. After wandering around the exhibits for a few hours, we decided to grab a late lunch at the restaurant in the museum.

While Paul and I were eating, an eccentric older woman with dark hair came over to our table and, after making small talk for a while, she reached to touch Paul's long, ferociously curly hair. "You're like an Olympian god," the woman said to Paul, "like Zeus." Then she looked at me. "And you, you look like you have the inner-light of the Buddha." The woman laughed nervously. "Imagine that," she said, mostly to herself. "Zeus and Buddha eating lunch together in an art museum." The woman shook her head in private wonder and walked off.