Being the environmentally conscientious sort that I am, I went out to WalFart and bought myself a new push mower. Besides helping to reduce gas emissions, it’s good exercise to be running up and down the lawn with a push mower. Plus it doesn’t do a half bad job of cutting the grass. But the biggest bonus is that I get to smile and wave at John across the road and rub his nose in it. John’s the competitive type and likes to buy the biggest of everything. He has the biggest home on the street, the biggest car, the biggest dog and – of course – the biggest lawn mower – a Henry 2000.

There I’ll be in the heat of a summer’s day pushing my push mower back and forth and John’ll smile his smarmy smile and wave his wavey wave and ask how I like working up a sweat.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not like Otis Garvey is snooty. I don’t think he’s snooty at all. But he wears a plastic optimism that reminds me of an evangelist who smiles and grins and says it’s a lovely day even when the hailstones are chipping the paint off his car. So it gave me a secret satisfaction to watch Garvey open the letter from Nigeria and read it with a serious look on his face.

“Oh the poor woman,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »