Have you ever…?

Thursday, January 4, 2024

“Have you thought about getting eaten by a bear?” I asked him.
“No.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“Not even not just now, but never?”
“No, never.”

Silence for a while.

“Have you thought about getting eaten by a bear?” he asked me. (He never asks me the questions back! I was very excited.)
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Why? I think it’s a thing people think about. Except you, apparently.”
“I don’t think people think about it.”
“You wouldn’t, would you? Because you haven’t thought about it.”

Then we went to see The Boys in the Boat at the Alamo theater. We are big fans of supporting our locally owned theater, but sometimes you have to go to the place that is showing your movie at the time you can go. We have movie pass, so it is the same price wherever we go, so it doesn’t enter into the equation. Anyway, we stopped and returned Christmas shoes (Christmas shoes! We do not like that song, but it seems to have gone away – didn’t hear it once this season) that Alexander didn’t like, then drove down the shopping street to the theater. There were chairs around a fire pit on the sidewalk and I had to go down to warm myself by the fire. (If I had just gone into the theater, I wouldn’t have been cold, but the fire was so delightful.) Keith ordered a cookies and cream shake, because we were at the fancy theater. When he got his bill, it turned out that there was an 18% service charge (to pay for livable wages) that was not a tip. His $9.50 shake ended up costing $14.05 after adding a tip on top of that. It seems to me that charging $9.50 for a shake (and not even getting the silver container with the extras) should give you a profit margin to pay a reasonable wage. I wondered if the employees making livable wages need to be tipped. Is that a thing? We have $2 to tip a movie waitress for carrying a shake to Keith, so we did. I wonder what I will think of this tomorrow. I wonder if I will think of this tomorrow. Anyway, the movie was terrific, and I am so glad we went. It is a small movie we might have missed if we had stayed home to pack, like I thought we should. I recommend it (going, not packing. Except eventually packing).

Back in the car, I asked, “Have you ever thought about getting attacked by anything? Like a dog or a woof?” (I noticed I said wolf wrong. I said woof, like a dog talking in a cartoon. Keith made no comment about that. I was surprised.)
“No. Why would I?”
“Because people do get attacked by animals. How will you be ready if you haven’t thought about it.”

Long pause.

“I guess I won’t be.”
“That is just bad planning.”

Pause.

“Are you thinking about being attacked by a dog now?”
“No. I am trying to think of other animals that I have never thought about being attacked by. I have never thought about being attacked by a squirrel or coyote.”
“Interesting. How about an orangutan?”
“In Borneo?”
“Yes.”
“They have orangutans in Borneo. Lost of dangerous animals in Borneo.” (We did not learn about the many dangerous animals in Borneo until after we had been there. We have been quite interested in Borneo dangerous animals ever since.)
“Yes.”
“No. I haven’t thought about any animals from Borneo attacking me.”
“Next time we go to Borneo, you probably will.”
“I probably won’t.”
“You don’t know.”

“Well, true.”

Then we got to Cub and bought some crackers to take on the plane in case I get hangry. I will pack them tomorrow.