Boasting 101

Dorothy and I got back today from that wedding we went to. I had a wonderful time and was happy to see old friends and meet new people. My favorite thing, as is usually the case with me, was observing people, particularly people I did not previously know. My favorite was a man from a little town in Florida who owned a printing company. He was a boaster, one of the best I have ever seen, and held the attention of whatever group he was talking to. I studied his technique and today I marvel at how smoothly he worked his little brags into the conversation. As an example, he had won an award for producing quality work in some particular area of printing. He didn't say that. He said it was beyond his comprehension that a little businessman from such a small town in a Southern State could be given such a prestigious award. Later he was telling how his daughter had been accepted into an art school somewhere up north. It seems her admission was in part because of an art contest she won. This fellow kept talking about how small her painting was. He said he could understand a prize for a large--which he described as full-size--picture would be considered, but his daughter's entry was smallish to the point she needed a magnifying glass to do the fine detail in the work. Besides he said, "While her mother and I excel in many areas, neither of us can draw worth a darn. She couldn't have received her talent from us." I gave this guy's method high marks for winning over his audience. I wonder if they will feel the same after they have considered what he actually was saying.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle