Lou Milner - Notes on Nadia's Unfortunate Encounter with Civility

Notes on Nadia's unfortunate encounter with civility

by Lou Milner

Nadia goes to a funeral. Takes an inappropriate gift (an antique book entitled The Joy of Living). The corpse is gracious and doesn't say anything. Nadia comments on the corpse's attire and says he never looked better, more rested: the break has obviously done him some good. Others in attendance don't know what to make of Nadia's actions but are also too polite to say anything. They cry instead. Song sheets are passed around and several mourners take turns at the podium performing karaoke. Remembering the Seven Deadly Sins, Nadia speculates on which it was that killed her good friend, Victor. Decides, eventually, it must have been Sneezy, as there was a lot of that going around. She herself was lucky to have been out of town at the time. Someone, Victor's Auntie Antenna, takes Nadia aside. "Nadia, what are you doing? What are you saying? What are you thinking? Sneezy?" "Oh, silly me," says Nadia, smacking herself on the forehead with a white linen monogrammed bath towel that her brother had given her for her sixteenth birthday, "Sleepy! I meant Sleepy." Auntie Antenna, smiles affectionately and pats poor pitiable Nadia on the noggin.

This little vignette serves to illustrate that anyone can make an honest mistake, but it's not always possible to differentiate between sincerity and stupidity, so one should always strive for courtesy.