I've been asked the standard questions of course, ie.  "Does he bite?",
"What is it?" and I don't know why but they always ask me, "How long have
you had it?"
 
I'm a smarta** at heart and rarely miss a chance to demonstrate that
skill....I've had to hold my tongue in most cases when it comes to my little
devil dog, Caesar, simply because I'm afraid someone will take me seriously.
BUT, there was one time that a woman was just asking for it.  To my chagrin,
it wasn't much of an opportunity, but sometimes you have to take what you
can get.  :::snicker:::
 
Okay, I'm in a PetsMart looking for a new toy for the devil dog.  Caesar is
being his usual "beacon of ferret" or "I'm really a snake dressed as a
ferret." He drapes himself along my forearm, front paws in the palm of my
hand, and sticks his head as far out ahead of us as a ferret can, looking
side to side for victims...not to bite...but for attention!!  The little
rascal loves it when people come and talk to us.  Anyways, this nutty woman
starts out:
 
"Awwww, I just love otters", she exclaims.  I look around me making sure she
was really talking to us, then began to open my mouth to educate the
misguided soul.  WELL, I didn't even get to utter a single syllable when she
rapidly began rambling on about how much she loves otters and how cute they
are.  I just stand there smiling, wondering if she plans to take a breath so
that I can tell her he's not an otter.  "Oh, he's just so adorable", she
says as she reaches to pet him, "Is it a male or a female?" Straight-faced I
reply, "Neither." A brief moment of silence before my answer finally reaches
the hamster that is obviously slowing down inside her head.  "Oh really, I
had no idea that otters were both sexes...my how interesting, why I just had
no idea...ramble ramble ramble.... "I finally cut her off and say "No, you
don't understand, this is Caesar, he is a male ferret...BUT, he's NOT an
otter.  Finally I see the dawning of understanding and she nods, smiles and
says, "oh, I see...my daughter had a ferret once...he was really cute." My
turn for the blank look...ummm....how come she thought he was an otter then?
She then realizes her guffaw and becomes a bit pink in the cheeks and I see
in her eyes that she is searching for a way to regain her dignity (I'm not
helping her, just a little quirk of mine...sink or swim baby, you're on your
own).  Needless to say her and the hamster ran out of ideas and she quickly
scurried away.  Caesar kinda looked around as if to say, "I can be an otter,
just gimme a chance...as long as it will get me attention."
 
Nancy
[Posted in FML issue 2226]