Overheard conversations: a one-off, or a whole novel

I've got an overheard quote in Leah Garchik's funny column today on love. Funny as in laugh-out-loud, not funny as in odd, weird.

I'm one of those faithful readers who starts my day by opening the Datebook section of the Chronicle and reading Garchik's Public Eavesdropping of the day. And I always check to see if I know the person who sent it in. Just for fun.

And of course, I'm always listening for overheard bits of conversation. They can be much more fun than the whole, complicated story.

Or heart-wrenching. Walking to the library on UC campus recently I overheard a young, attractive blond woman saying to another: "I'm her birth mother. I just want to have a relationship with her."

That's the start of a whole novel, right there.