people watching

sitting in the local german bakery/coffee shop in the afternoon. it's a grey day out. the clouds are a foreshadowing of the torrential downpour we've been promised tomorrow.
she's sitting in the corner, over by the coffee pots, knitting and watching. she's around my age, early fifties. she's quiet, just sitting there knitting. she wears a picture id tag on a clip and chain around her neck.
why have i noticed her? it's not like she's some young sweetie, and it's certainly not because she is actively trying to attract attention. no, it's because she's knitting as a cover for checking out everyone that enters the shop.
i get this visual. imagine mid 60's moscow, and the aura of watchful paranoia we in the west were lead to believe was the norm there. this lady could easily have been the neighborhood informant, sitting in her window, wearing a shapeless dress and those big clunky black shoes, one hand on the curtain and one on the phone.
knit one, perl one, look up and give a quick, searching scan, look down, repeat.
she sat that way for the whole time i was there. she was there knitting and watching when i got there, and was sitting in the exact same spot when diane and i left. knit one, perl one, look up and scan, look down: repeat.