“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Squirrel Contest

He started talking to me as soon as he stepped in the bathroom door. I was surprised because men usually don't talk to each other in public restrooms. (I think there is a fear of appearing too "friendly" while taking care of nature's call.) This man didn't appear to care. "How's it going?", he asked. "Great weather we had today." It was the typical conversation starters, but it seemed a bit odd because we were in the men's room. He then asked me if I'd heard of the squirrel shooting contest. This conversation had jumped from merely "odd" to outright strange. I quickly reminded myself that Tonganoxie, KS has a different mindset than the metro area. Still . . . a squirrel shooting contest?
My chatty companion explained that he owns a local gun shop and that he'd sold two .22 rifles to people participating in the squirrel shooting contest sponsored by Cabela's. Whoever brings in the most squirrels (by weight) wins the contest. He didn't say what prize these marksmen won. As he breezed out the door he talked of how he'd given up shooting the squirrels raiding his bird feeder and had merely installed PVC over the support post. He was gone as quickly as he came, leaving me to contemplate that this was the strangest men's room conversation I've ever had.

1 comment:

Florence and Gary Deeter said...

A weird encounter all around--location, topic, abruptness.

Dad