Years ago I used to run into a woman in the graveyard while
walking our mutual dogs. She was on the very early shift like me, before I went
to my soul killing job at NOAA. I found out she was a professor at GSO. I would
see her and her dog Butterscotch regularly and could easily recognized the dog.
Well one morning Butterscotch was being walked by an elderly gentleman – so the
next time I saw her I said “I saw your father walking your dog.” For God’s
sake, the guy looked to by about 70 and she was high 30s tops. “Oh that was my
husband,” she said. Gulp. “Oh I don’t see that well with these
glasses………….blah, blah, blah.” As I tried to cover myself, she explained that
he was indeed OLDER.
Come to the present, a few years later. I see the Professor
woman (who I haven’t seen for years) walking with Butterscotch and an older
gentleman with a lab-type dog. “Oh, you got a new dog?” “No, that’s my father’s
dog. He is visiting.” Gulp. You see I was very careful but not careful enough.
Apparently her father and husband are about the same age and I sure can’t tell
the difference. Perhaps I need to keep my mouth shut. What a nice looking dog!
Last week, I was walking our angelic dog Buster, who doesn’t
have a mean bone in his body. We encountered a young woman I didn’t recognize
walking Scragglepus. Now I don’t know this dog’s real name but I recognized the
dog as one that regularly snarls and growls at me jogging or launches itself at
Buster. Luckily, Scragglepus was on a leash but nevertheless, he lunged at
Buster in an aggressive manner. I said to the young woman, he is always
aggressive with my dog. She replied, “He is always aggressive on the leash!”
This is not a friendly dog and I didn’t explain to her that we have encountered
him many times off the leash (he wanders over to the graveyard to harass) and
he is equally aggressive.
SO I walked on minding my own business and keeping Buster
close. As we walked by them again, she called out in a fairly smarmy tone,
“Have a great rest of your day!” I said, “O.K.” I wasn’t about to say thank
you, no sir. And then I remembered. This woman was the hall monitor or some
such thing when my son Matthew was in kindergarten. And he was very upset with
her. She was bullying him and insisting that he put his coat on, when they
waited outside on the blacktop, whether he wanted to or not. One day, I went
down when he was in line and confronted her. “If he doesn’t want to put his
coat on he doesn’t have to.” She was obnoxious then and is obnoxious to this
day and so is her little dog too. Think Toto with the witch in the Wizard of
Oz. Some people don’t change. That personality is set. Unfortunately this young
woman is also fat and I felt like telling her “You have an awful personality
and you are fat!” But I didn’t. It would fall on deaf ears. You know how people
say, “So and so has a really nice personality” and you immediately know they
are not good looking. Scragglepus and Scragglegirl both have bad personalities
and are not attractive either. A lose lose situation. Double whammy. Is it
really better to light a candle rather than rail against the darkness. Perhaps
next time I’ll try a little kindness. What a nice dog! Ha!
