Overheard: Zotz Café. Hills And Sick Elephants
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 7:51AM | by Otter Zotz Café. Oak Street.
The guy has long hair and a beard, looks like he’s twenty-five, tops.
The woman is thirty-ish, in white shorts and a blouse that suggests tennis somehow.
There was a total lack of irony at the table.
He: So, given that you can’t have Bear Grylls, what do you want in life?
She: Who says I can’t have Bear Grylls?
He: Ha-ha, well, I mean, it’s not likely, is it?
She: So? So what that it’s not likely?
He: Well… you think that…?
She: Sure! Why not?
He: Well, okay then.
She: I’m sorry, you were asking…?
He: I was going to ask what you thought you might do as an alternative.
She: Ha! I’m not thinking about alternatives. I don’t need alternatives. Alternatives are… They’re like settling for second best. They’re like giving up on your dreams. I don’t do that. I’m very tenacious. I think you have to really just go for everything you can get in this life.
He: And you’re going for Bear Grylls?
She: If I want to, yes.
He: And do you want to?
She: You’re kind of obsessed with Bear Grylls.
He: Well, I just want to get to know you, that’s all.
She: I see. I might, I dunno.
He: So what motivates you? What makes you just go, “Yeah!”?
She: That’s an open-ended question. I think I get really up on things that grow.
He: Like plants.
She: That, and children. And animals. People. You know?
He: Absolutely.
She: I think life is what makes… I dunno. It makes life worth living.
He: Absolutely.
[silence, broken by the sound of two people drinking coffee.]
He: So if you could do anything or be anybody, what would you be?
She: I’d be a cross between Wonder Woman and a veterinarian. Ha-ha!
He: Seriously?
She: Yeah. I’d go places and do good things, and save animals.
He: That’s awesome. Any particular place you’d want to live?
She: Maybe India. Or the Himalayas.
He: Awesome. You like mountains? I really love mountains.
She: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love mountains.
He: Me too. I freaking love mountains.
She: I hiked the Appalachian Trail a few years ago.
He: Seriously?
She: Yeah. Well, a couple of days on it.
He: Oh, awesome. Where?
She: Georgia.
He: Yeah, that’s awesome.
She: Totally. It was totally awesome.
He: So you want to work with big animals, or what?
She: Totally. Elephants. I want to work with elephants.
He: Do they have those in the Himalayas?
She: I think so. I’m not sure. I’d have to look. But they do in India. Or maybe with moose.
He: Why moose?
She: I really don’t know. They’re just so… strong and energetic or something. I don’t know. They have so much…
He: Life.
She: Yeah. Life.
Like Bear Grylls.
Bear Grylls, Eavesdropping, Zotz in Cliché, Community, Relationships 
Reader Comments (3)
rolling.on.the.floor.laughingmyassoffuntilI'mchoking
I was having a hard time keeping the flies out of my mouth. It was a great moment.
And Hemingway rolled over.