THE FOOTNOTES

who say Noonski talks too much. Maybe recent events bear out these allegations.
For example, Noonski was in the local supermarket recently when he encountered
a lady he has known for many years. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers she intended to buy, and was on her way to the checkout. As is his wont, Noonski engaged her in conversation which he found to be very entertaining. But, after a while, the lady said, "Hey, my flowers are wilting." and ended the conversation.
Being thick skinned, Noonski shrugged it off.
More recently, in tne same supermarket, Noonski was waiting to buy his lottery tickets when he began converse with a lady, a stranger, who was waiting in line behind him. Things were tied up at the courtesy counter, and the wait for service was extended. Noonski regaled her with stories about the old West when he was a lad, and was prepared to go on, when the stranger pointed to her shopping cart and blurted out, "Hey, my meat is getting rancid." Noonski initially took this to be a critcism of the service clerk, but in retrospect, she could have
been commenting on Noonski's unrelenting oration. Probaby not Noonski's fault.