weird polo shirt guy

i rode my bike up to petco ("where the pets go!") tonight to get some stuff for otis. when i came out, there was this tallish, medium build, average-looking guy with glasses standing by the bike racks. he had on khaki dockers and a red polo shirt--like he worked at target, but there was no target anywhere near by. he was smoking, and kind of staring at me. i acted like i didn't notice him. he said "mumble mumble mumble mumble, huh?"

i looked up.

he said "getting some shopping done, huh?"

"yeah," i said.

a longer-than-usual-conversational-pause later, he said "is that for a cat or something?"

"dog."

"oh." (another longish pause) "it's just that single gals usually have cats."

"huh," i stated non-committally, and reached up to unlock my bike, positioning my left hand so that it was in plain view.

"so...last year greenhill did this thing where pets and their single owners could go listen to music and drink wine."

"yeah?" as i put my helmet on with exaggerated left-hand posturing.

"i have a dog," he started in,"what dog park do you go to? actually i don't really have a dog, i borrow one from my neighbor. she lets me borrow it because dogs are good for attracting women. but it likes the dog park..."

borrowing a line from miranda on sex and the city in the episode where she has a bad date in central park with this guy who refuses to go anywhere other than manhattan, i got on my bike and said "i have to go feed my cat."