Although I love dogs, at present we are a cat family. Lately we’ve been ordering much of our cat food on line, but we still buy it at the grocery store too. With four house cats, we go through a lot of bowls of multiple varieties, plus dry food (aka “crunchies”).
But I digress. When we’re checking out at Publix with a grocery cart that includes quite a bit of feline delicacies, the cashier is invariably moved to comment upon all the cat food we’re purchasing. “Golly, you must have a lot of cats,” she’ll say, or something closely akin to that. Her comment is my cue to go into my routine.
“Not really,” I say, looking sheepish and embarrassed. “This is what we’ve been reduced to eating. Times are hard and I’m out of work.”
The cashier will stop ringing stuff up and look at me, mortified, not totally sure if I’m serious or joking. I maintain a straight face. The clockhand seems almost to have ceased to turn for a few precious seconds, then my wife can’t take it anymore.
“Will you stop that? It’s not funny anymore!” she says, laughing uncomfortably.
“Oh, ha ha,” moans the cashier, and turns to ring up some paper towels.

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