A few weeks ago, I met a man in the middle of the street. We stood face to face. It was about half past five. In the distance, a dog barked.
I stared at the man for a minute or so. I said, "What do you do for a living?"
He said, "I practice law."
I said, "When are you gonna start doing it for real?"
"That’s an awful joke," he said.
"What joke?" I said.
He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow.
A minute of silence passed.
"What do you do for a living?" the man said to me.
"I’m a comedian," I said.
"Now that," he chuckled. "That’s a good joke."
I tilted my head, like a dog staring at a television. "What joke?" I said.
The man sighed in disgust and walked away. I was in the middle of the street. Someone honked their horn. I got out of the middle of the street.
I never saw that man again.