....I used to spend whole summers with that dog, driving all over the country delivering boxes of hoop nails to hardware stores. I taught the dog everything I know, with him sitting next to me in the front seat of the truck. The dog died when he was 14 years old, so he never did get the opportunity to put all his learning to any good use. When he got older, the dog got hard of hearing. It led to all sorts of misunderstandings. I always used to tell him that there was never any harm in double-checking. He always thought I said that there was never any ham in devilled chicken. I guess there’s sense in both points of view. It just goes to show that we all just hear what we want to hear. 

Copyright 2001 P.G.Knight
please do not read this extract more than once.