A couple of weeks ago (the day I was trying to get my driver's license, in fact) I was driving up St. Andrew, heading for the house. That's when I saw something odd on the sidewalk.

Walking along the sidewalk were two women. I was driving up behind them. One was tall, large, and wearing a big shapeless housedress. The other one was also tall, but slim, and wearing transparent-heeled stripper shoes, hot pants, and a tiny little halter top.

Huh.

I drove up beside them. They were getting talked to by the people who live in some sort of halfway house over on that street, so I don't even think they noticed me.

The resemblance was remarkable. They could have been sisters, or aunt and neice, but they overwhelming impression was that this was mother and daughter - the mom being the bigger one, the daughter being the one dressed like a stripper.

And even though she was dressed like a stripper, there was no way this girl was anywhere over sixteen. I put her at more like forteen.

Which led me to ask the following questions:

• Was she really that young?
• If she was, what was she doing dressed like that?
• If she was old enough to be a dancer, where was she going in her work clothes at ten in the morning? With her mom?
• If that was her mom and she wasn't a stripper why was she letting her daughter parade around like a two-dollar hoor?