Smooth Criminal

I was waiting in the self-check-out line at CVS the other day when another customer cut in front of me in the line.  He hadn't seen me, and when he turned around and saw me waiting there he came over and apologized profusely.  He could have been a little bit high -- his apology went on a few seconds too long and he seemed a bit off somehow -- but he also seemed genuinely rather chivalrous and polite.  After he let me go ahead of him with a sweep of his arm, I started ringing up my purchases, and was not done doing so before he apologized again on his way out.

It was a small incident on the whole, but I thought about it on the way home, because there was something very old-fashioned in the man's looks:  I could picture him dressed in a 1920's suit with a moustache, selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, all compliments and flattery, yet when he left he'd leave with all your money, plus the pie you had cooling on the windowsill.

And then my mind started wandering, as my mind is wont to do, and I started wondering about Dorothy and her guard dog abilities.  A lot of people who live in my building pass my door on the way to their apartments, so Dorothy is used to hearing many daily comings and goings.  She's also used to hearing conversations of people as they pass by my window at night.  As of late, however, if she hears something different in a footstep, say, or if someone pauses too long by our door, she will rush over growling and perhaps barking once or twice, and I've been amazed at how fierce she sounds!  She has a deep rumbling growl and a downright menacing bark when she wants to.

She's still just as likely to lick and kiss a burglar to death, but if I were lurking outside and heard the sounds Dorothy makes, I'd think twice before breaking in.

Dorothy thinking go ahead, make my day.