Sometimes as the April 1st requalification date rolls around for the “Foot in Mouth“ Club, I become a little anxious, lest this be the year I don’t make the grade. Fortunately, this year I know I’m safe, and I’ll tell you how that came about.
It happened, prosaically enough, at my local Safeway. I was standing in line for the pharmacy, there to pick up a prescription. There was a sign on a stand that asked us to keep the aisle clear and give privacy to people as they spoke to the pharmacist, so we were standing at the head of the aisle across from the counter. As I usually do in these situations, I began looking around, reading labels, people watching, glancing at my watch, all those little things people who don’t text or tweet do to pass the time.
In one of my visual sweeps, I noticed two men – little people as they prefer to be known. They had a list and they were consulting it. Just then a woman at the pharmacy counter looked over and waved and called out, “Bob!”. One of the two men turned around and waved back and called out her name. He then excused himself to his friend, saying he worked with the woman and was just going to say a quick hello. He turned and walked over to speak to her, and just then my eye caught the eye of the friend, and I smiled and said, “Small world.” Thank goodness he took the remark at face value, and thank goodness they called me up to the counter just then. I could feel my face getting red. Of all the things I could have said. Oh, well, as I said, my membership in “Foot in Mouth” is safe for another year.
