Dear Reader Column 01-16-07

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Dear Reader,

In the middle of every day situations, I'm always trying to figure out "why." Part Suzanne, part Colombo, I'm theorizing and sorting through the seemingly unimportant details. Doing my best to sum up what's really going on in a situation and usually I come up with a pretty good rationale for "why."

But things aren't always what they seem to be.

I was sitting in an outdoor cafe and the woman next to me was eating a spinach salad. She'd dropped a piece on the pavement and a pigeon kept walking round and round, circling the discarded leaf, hoping he could sneak in and grab the tasty morsel when no one was looking. Or so I thought.

It was quite amusing and I even commented to the woman how the pigeon was desperately trying to give the impression that he wasn't interested in the wayward piece of spinach. We both watched for a while and then the woman bent down, picked up the shiny green leaf, and threw it right in front of the bird. The pigeon jumped back a bit, looked at the single green leaf--there it was just waiting for him--but he turned and walked the other way.

No, things aren't always what they seem to be.

The earrings looked gorgeous. I asked the clerk if she would pull them out of the display case, so I could try them on. "How do you think they look?" I asked her. But she didn't comment. Instead she suggested I try on a different pair. Was this her polite way of telling me the earrings looked terrible?

But I really liked them, so I just came right out and asked her, "Don't you like how these earrings look on me?"

"Oh, I love them," she said. "Actually I made them and I was so nervous when you asked to try them on, I was holding my breath, hoping you would like them."

Things aren't always what they seem to be.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

P.S. Yes, I bought her earrings and I love them!

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Comments

[Joyce]

Susan, we are soulmates in the arena of bugs and snails! I too talk to the critters in my yard, but the smails get to me - slimy and ugly little monsters! I put 'em in the plastic bag the newspaper comes in - long and skinny - tie it up and trash them. Or you can pour salt in the bag and watch them disintegrate but that's rather gruesome and I don't have that much fortitude. And the worst present I ever got was an impromptu birthday gift of a small ceramic smail plopped into my hand on a date with a guy I did not know well. I almost screeched and dropped it! Thanks for sharing.