The master of the faux pas strikes again

There's an update to the autobiographical note I appended at the end of my recent post about gratitude. Alas, it does not reflect well on yours truly and his social competence.

You will remember that I was impressed because the teenager at the coffee shop went to special trouble to thank me for a small favor I had done for her. Well, on Sunday I stopped in on my way to church to get some coffee, and Daniela was behind the counter. The Miller Outdoor Theatre ballet performance I had told her about had taken place the night before, and she and her mother, she told me happily, had in fact gone to see the ballet, and they had had a great time...and, she added, they had looked over the list of future events and really wanted to go see Beauty and the Beast.

I pointed out, "You do realize that one's specially designed for little kids, right? It's one of their 11:00 a.m. summer performances."

"Is it really?" she asked in surprise. Then, with a bit of embarrassment, she said, "Well, I want to go anyway."

"I don't see why you can't," I said cheerfully. "It's in the summer, after all, so it's not like you'll have classes."

I become instantly aware that I have, apparently, said something stupid. Daniela is looking at me quizzically, with an expression that says plainly, "You are a very nice man and therefore I'm not going to be rude enough to say this out loud, but what you just said makes no sense whatsoever." Clearly choosing her words carefully, she says, "But I'm not in school."

My finely-honed brain draws the conclusion that in assuming I have been dealing all this time with a high-school student, I have erred. An attempt at clarification seems in order; so I say in some confusion, "Oh, you're in college?"

She shakes her head patiently: "No, I'm already done with school."

Somewhat incredulously, I ask, "Wait a minute, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three."

Oops.

(Postscript: the Troika think it's hilarious that glupiy Papa thought the kid young lady was in high school, because they say that it's obvious to even the most casual observer that Daniela is older than they are. So, another blow to their due regard for Papa's omniscience....[sigh])

UPDATE: As several of my friends have pointed out, it could have been much worse -- instead of thinking this nice young twenty-three-year-old was seventeen, I could have thought she was thirty. Um, point taken; and I am now officially looking on the bright side.