Nose rings and dreadlocks

She stooped down on her hams, balancing expertly on her toes. She was speaking to a young man with chocolate hair, who wore a mint green shirt and tattered jeans. I attempted to walk casually up towards the body wash and soap section of the health food store and catch bits of their conversation. She was calmly, yet enthusiastically speaking of her favorite all-purpose oil cleanser. Her voice rose and fell with intention, energy and force. She loved this stuff--all of it. She spoke of its many all-natural purposes and the attractive features of its fair trade quality. She was the epitome of the nineteen-sixties hippie embodied in real flesh. Her many dreadlocks were swept up into a neat bundled heap atop her head by means of a decorative scarf--blue and white I think it was. She wore white linen pants that swayed and gave with her graceful movements. A small, golden nose ring shone in her right nostril. She also wore a large jade pendant around her weather-worn neck--complete with an old hemp band. Her multiple earring holes bore dangling bits and pieces--a small golden cross hung from her left earlobe. Her bare, beautiful face wore little if any makeup, perhaps a dash of eyeliner. Her slightly yellowed teeth peeped through the lips that seemed to be continually playing at a smile. She smelled of lavender, oatmeal and body order. Her unpainted nails and general appearance testified to her natural philosophy about life...her name was Melanie