Last week, our water delivery guy arrived while I was at home. I grabbed the empty bottle that was kicking around the kitchen floor, and walked out to meet him, leaving crazy Donna the Dog in the house.

The delivery guy took my bottle, and asked quickly if the dog was out. I reassured him that she was in the house, and we had a little chatty conversation about Times That My Dog Almost Jumped On Him and Boy Was He Surprised. As we stood gabbing, another man pulled up behind the water truck, and walked casually up my driveway to stand with us. The delivery guy explained that this new fella was his boss, and they had some sort of information to pass to one another. Then the delivery guy started to explain to his boss about my crazy dog, and how he was So Surprised Those Couple Of Times A Few Years Back.

I was searching my brain for a phrase that would indicate that I was done with this conversation, but somehow found myself drawn into a discussion of the Humane Society, dog trainers, and cats. There was no lull. I took a few steps backwards, not wanting to be rude, but instead of just saying "bye!" and running, I was stuck.

The boss mentioned that he had given his son five baby rabbits for his birthday this summer. He didn't get them fixed, and five rabbits soon became 12, and then 20 and then 50. "Man, I'm telling you. I had 81 rabbits on Christmas morning. My wife was all, just kill 'em and make slippers out of 'em. I'm running out of wood to build their hutches! It costs like 80 dollars to get them fixed, so you know..."

I shot a look at the delivery guy. His jaw was unhinged just like mine. The two of us stood there with our mouths hanging open, looking at the boss guy. He was going on and on about how cute the rabbits were, but then he had to find them all homes, and now he only has one rabbit.

"Hey, you know," he said. "At least my kid can't say we never got him no pets."