{manners}

the problem with people is that they are dirty.
the problem with people besides that they are dirty is that they can't keep their dirt to themselves.
so, you know, i have a problem with people.

we went for a walk on saturday, barclay and i, and we were crossing the street at the same time as somebody else was crossing it.

now, you know, there are manners.
the problem with people is that they don't know about all of the manners that they should know about.

manners like, "don't spit on other people, especially people that you don't know."
those kinds of manners.

as we crossed the street, and this other person crossed the street, he raised up his eyes and gave us a look. i didn't know what the look meant at that exact time, but now i know that the look meant, "i'm going to spit on you, because i don't know about all of the manners."

the look preceded the throat clearing, which preceded the spray.

and the guy kept on walking, because he didn't have enough manners to say, "i'm sorry that i spit on you. have a nice day."

i was thankful that the spit only landed on my kneecaps, because i don't use my kneecaps for anything other than capping my knees. i wiggled my legs a little and complained about how i don't like having strangers spit on my legs.

but then i looked up and saw barclay wiping his face off and realized that i'd been very, very lucky.