The Oaf: (awkward pause) So you want to know what started me thinking about this stuff.
The Shrink: Oh, yeah.
The Oaf: Well, I was working on a story and I wrote down a detail that set off my bullshit detector, big time. It was derived from three conversations I had with three fat women I found attractive. Jesus. Two writers and a comedian and am I predictable or what? They took place over maybe twenty years but there was something that linked them -- all three women kept brushing me with their bellies every so often as we spoke and I rationalized my way out of thinking the attraction might be mutual by assuming that some people navigated by using their belly as a sensory organ. Like curb feelers or echolocation. And when I saw that notion written down, I just said, no, people do not work that way.
The Shrink: (guffaws, throws head back, slaps thigh in mirth) Oh, God. As a fat person, that image is never going to leave my mind.
The Oaf: That's why I hesitated.
The Shrink: It's okay. I'll live. (chuckles)
2 years
