Non Sequitur

Yesterday just before I was going to traipse out of work, trying to beat the sunset in my dash for the comfort and safety that is home, I was waylaid by a well-meaning coworker. This co-worker, and I really like her, btw, has a tendency to speak very low when at work. (Catch her at happy hour and she becomes the MGM lion) Anyhow, she came up to me and she mumbled something really low. I heard "office of screaming girls, Valentine's Day, blah blah?" I looked at her uncertainly. She smiled affably, congenially, almost conspiratorily. I hesitated. She waited. I didn't really have the heart to burst her bubbles and ask her to repeat herself. It's a very deflating experience, to be asked to "come again?" Because I've had that experience many times and I hate it when people don't hear me the first time. Finally I ventured a very bland response. "Well, Valentine's Day is very overrated, as it is." I said, a bit uncertainly. She looked at me confusedly. Then she agreed, and proceeded to say, "Yes, but blah blah blah?" Essentially, she repeated her question, the question of course which I didn't get in the first place. This time, I heard it, I understood what she was trying to ask and finally, I smiled confidently, like someone who finally learned how to recite her alphabets in the correct order, I answered her question accordingly. So I probably was not altogether successful in pretending that I caught her question in time, but then I thought I was still a pretty smooth cat for my blase quip. As I am currently waiting on my RNA to finish their mass migration south, I have drawn a little picture to humour myself.