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| Delivering cabbages to Wanda |
You know what you think of people who drop off unwanted cats in front of unsuspecting neighbors' homes. They are not people you include in your social circle. You consider them to be unsavory characters, and you feel justified in avoiding their company. (Perhaps I should have changed the pronoun to I, but you know that I'm talking about me when I say you.)
Lately, I have found myself to have characteristics in common with the cat people. I find my social circle narrowing (though I thought it couldn't possibly get much smaller). I get no phone calls or emails. People seem to be avoiding me to the point of crossing to the other side of the street when they see me coming. I think it has to do with my Chinese cabbage.
Little did I know that every seed I planted would grow into a lovely, large Chinese cabbage. I knew I could eat some, and the bugs could eat some; but that left about twenty cabbages that needed to have homes. I began to think of neighbors and friends that might "appreciate" a head of cabbage. Every person I delivered a cabbage to smiled and said how happy they were to receive such a beautiful gift. That was their reaction for the first head of cabbage.
It was when I offered the second head that I began to feel myself moving into that "cat person" category. I got answers like: "Oh, I think we still have some left from the last one." "Wow, I don't think I could manage another one." "No, we didn't really like the first one."
That's when I knew I would have to go to the recipients of last resort--family. Family are the people who have to take Chinese cabbages when no one else will. Lucky for me, I have a big family, and most of them really are glad to get my cabbages--at least that's what they told me at the time. I haven't heard from them lately.
