… from Key West, UD‘s been spring cleaning.
Yesterday, Les UD‘s bought sphagnum moss
for their topiary bulls. (The bulls honor
Munro Leaf, author of Ferdinand the Bull,
who lived in UD‘s house.)
This morning, while pressing the moss
into the topiary’s frames, UD prepared
various clever sallies to use when passersby
remarked, as she knew they would, on her
activity. She practiced the lines in her head
— timing, tone, facial expression, etc.
Right away, two women walking two black
labs stopped just outside UD‘s wooden fence.
“So… Look what you’re doing…”
You could tell this woman wanted to say
something clever but couldn’t.
Okay. Here goes.
“Don’t you two stuff your bulls every morning?”
UD chose this riposte because it sounded obscene.
The women, unfazed, came right back.
“No,” said one of them. “I stuff myself full of bull every morning.”
Although this riposte was as meaningless as UD‘s sally, UD liked it. She found it, speed-of-ripostewise, impressive.
May 9th, 2009 at 11:04AM
Meaningless? I take it as a slam at the Washington Post.