Off to the post office, I hear a man saying “you might think that’s a normal way to walk, but it’s not.”
Always open to offers of free gait analysis, I stay alert.
Alas, he’s not talking to me. He’s talking to his friend.
They’re returning from some sort of sporty workout and the main speaker is carrying his water bottle in that slightly macho upside-down way to suggest he’s well up on screw-on caps.
They’re talking about their kids.
“‘Walking like wha-?'” he quotes his child. “‘Walking like that,’ I says, ‘you might think it’s normal but it’s not.”
“It’s not normal,” says the nodding friend, “it’s really not normal.”
“He just comes in, walking like this: zooooooo, zooooooo…”
They’re behind me so I don’t see the walk. The zoomy sound makes me imagine the kid was riding an invisible motorbike around the house. If that’s what the kid is doing, his dad is right and it’s not a normal way to walk. It’s a fun way though, and I should know.
“…And I says, ‘whit you walkin’ like that for?’ and he says ‘like what?’ and I says ‘like this’ an’…”
“Haha,” says the friend, “I know, I know.”
“‘like that,’ I says, ‘walking like that‘.”
It went on and on.