So -- and I realize that I should not start a paragraph, let alone the whole story, with that word, but I am -- I attended my regular self-help, mental health group meeting last night. As we were trudging through the reading selection, I realized that one guy was reading a whole lot better than he used to read; but what does one do in a situation like that? Is it wise to commend him on his improvement? I think that could cause some difficulty.
At one of my first meetings, a huge hulk of a Bible-toting man was having a problem. He had stopped at DQ for a vanilla cone ... attention to detail is one of his things ... and a guy was looking at him. That's all, just looking his way. And the huge Bible-toting hulk of a man announced, "I felt like killin' 'im. Beating him bad." But he didn't, which turned out to be a good thing; except I've seen him at the DQ before every meeting he attends. I try to believe he likes his vanilla cones.
As I was saying, last night, a woman I hadn't seen before was at the meeting. Others knew her, though. She probably showed up only when I didn't ... seemed like an okay kind of person, except that she drank from her Starbucks cup louder than any human could. I don't know how she could possibly make some of the sounds she made. Now, I've heard people sucking coffee through the hole in the lid, making like a clicking sound. She was doing something different. She made other-worldly noises, like she had a long insect-like proboscis sticking into the little hole in the lid, sucking, ever sucking.
I checked the others sitting around the table. A 40-ish-looking woman shot glances at her. And then this 40-ish-looking woman leveled her gaze at me and motioned ever so slightly with her head, or maybe I just imagined that, as if telling me to tell the lady, a stranger to me, to stop doing what he was doing, just drinking her coffee, and risk either shattering her ego, finding out she was from another planet, or worse.
I kept my mouth shut.
Do you think it was really coffee in the cup?....
Posted by: Anji at November 7, 2006 11:09 AMI was thinking the same thing as Anji. Or, perhaps it was coffee, and she was daring anyone to say anything--sort of a passive-aggressive thing.
Posted by: Trace at November 7, 2006 12:40 PMAlso, whats with the Bible-toting ice cream cone guy? Geez, maybe it's something in DQ's soft serve that's setting him off. I'd hate to hear what the coffee may do to the poor dude, should he ever decide to switch.
Posted by: Trace at November 7, 2006 12:45 PMOh thanks for the laugh, Bill. It seems it was a good night for epic sucking noises, across the land.
Posted by: kyle at November 8, 2006 03:09 PMHuh. It sounds like you are attending some Al Anon meetings with me and I didn't realize it. Wave at me next time, okay?
I'm the cranky short person sitting in the back.
Posted by: moonandsun03 at November 9, 2006 09:42 AM