i avoided eye contact as the cashier rang up the turquoise thong , but the mall gods must have had it in for me , because a microsecond before the thong was in the bag and i was in the clear , the pushy mom from abercrombie appeared out of nowhere , bounded to my side , and said , loudly enough for the entire store ( and possibly a large portion of the rest of north america ) to hear , `` that is just adorable ! ''