Drugstore and dogs

published: 2009-03-05

At the local drugstore, I ran into a well known writer. Her most recent novel had won a few prizes. It had taken her seven years to write. One of the things she said in an interview somehow always stuck to my mind: she mentioned she had very few female friends and preferred to hang out with men. The conversations women engaged in bored her to pieces, why should she waste her time chit-chatting about things like the neighbors, children and shopping?  That's all women spoke about. I had already admired her determination. And now I admired her for being so frank. So today I smiled warmly on seeing her. She smiled back and allowed her dog to sniff me in places I prefer nobody to sniff me. She gurgled, "oh, he really likes you!" I suppose I was to see that as a sign of approval. Well, she may dislike interactions with women. But I dislike interactions with dogs. Very much so.