Sometimes A Character Just Appears

My real life job is not brain surgery.  Thank the gods for that because I'm blind as a bat and my math skills have third graders shaking their heads.  You wouldn't want me messing with your gray matter, that's for sure.  See?  Look at how distracted I get!
My real life job involves dealing with the public, face to face, solving their problems, fixing things they consider to be broken beyond repair.  They come at me all revved up and ready to rumble.  Most of the time I'm okay with that because I put myself in their shoes and understand.  I am a problem solver, I'm quick and efficient, I'm a cooler of sorts.  You want results?  I'm your gal.  I'm just not allowed to rough anybody up.  dammit
Most of the time I operate on auto pilot merely because there's a lot to do, there's not much time, and it's the same old shit, day in day out.  I don't enjoy these people for the unique individuals they are. Or would be if they weren't all stressed out.  Such a shame. 
But isn't it interesting how the universe waggles its eyebrows, giggles, and then tosses something your way?  That happened to me today.

A character fell into my lap.  And I've been thinking all day just how I want to work her into a story.
Jackie and I started out "business as usual".  When I asked her how she was doing today and got the response, "You don't want to know",  for some reason I was compelled to push.  Usually I just shrug and forget about it. 
Turns out her car had been giving her problems and her mechanic of some twenty five years had been dicking her around.  My words, not hers.  I suggested she try the place my dad swears by.  As I looked up the phone number for her, she filled me in on the history of said mechanic shop.  Which in turn, led to the fact that she grew up in Los Angeles when it was a burb.  She graduated from Hollywood High in 1950 (picture me counting on my fingers).  She went to Hollywood Professional School.
She looked at me and said, "My best friend was named Debra, too. And she was a movie star."
 "Oh really? Debra who?" 
"Debra Paget"
Now, I'm an old movie buff.  Love old movies.  I know who Debra Paget is.  Jackie was thrilled.  The stories poured out of her. 
She and Leslie Caron studied ballet together.  Jackie still has the fancy silk stockings Leslie brought back from Paris and, my! they were fancy compared to those crummy fishnets they all danced in back then.  Jackie still has the stockings!  She danced in Vegas during the era of Martin and Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason.  All the biggies, she's met them and worked with them. 
We were laughing and having a wonderful time and I thought, this is what it's all about.   A life enjoyed, good stories to tell.
And that's when I decided Jackie's story needed to be told in some way.  I'm not sure yet how it's going to happen, but I'm gonna do it.