At the park, I passed the religious group’s pamphlet stand, where two female members were smiling nicely. I found a nearby picnic table and pulled a recently-published book about the science of aging out of my backpack, poured a cup of tea from my thermos, and settled in to read. There were two guys from the religious group at the next picnic table. One of the guys said to me, “What are you reading over there?” It being a book just off the press, I held it up and said, “Oh, you won’t have read it. It’s a science book.” My comment hung in my subconscious for quite some time, and when I finally realized my error, it was too late to apologize. They all had left. Sorry.
