howdy neighbor

Yesterday, Allie and I were sitting on the porch, having our morning coffee and slices of banana bread. A man strode up with his little dog. He hollered out to us something about our front lawn, all friendly like, and we moved closer to have a chat. He seemed really nice, and Allie and I were feeling real good about things, like we've been here two years and the neighborhood's finally starting to open up to us.

Then the guy started giving us a rap about how he'd like to give us a free financial needs assessment, because, see, he's been working for CitiGroup, and it's all good, and bla-bla-bla, and on and on and on and on, and neither Allie nor I could politely break away. Meamtime, Gobo, our biter, was tethered to the front porch, where he had free access to our banana bread.

Finally, the neighbor who'd been zombified by the world's largest corporation shut up and we returned to the porch and our empty plates, feeling cheated.

Sheesh. Neighbors as advertizing.