Intimation

Intimation: Hinting at a meaning but not stating it explicitly.

“Your barn door is open,” I said to my friend Joe. The “barn door” thing is the universal hint that one’s fly is unzipped. Not for Bill. “Do I look like a friggin’ farmer?” He didn’t get it. Once we we were eating in a posh restaurant and he was slurping his soup. I said, “I hear a sink draining, do you?” Some guy at another table yelled “I do!” Joe looked a me like I was crazy and kept on slurping.

We were in a crowded elevator. I hard a telltale squeaking noise coming from Joe it quickly morphed into a blinding stench. I said, “Your trumpet’s broken. We better get out on the next floor before you kill somebody.” Joe said “What? Are you talking about my farts? Ok.” He got it! I would’ve hugged him, but he was ringed by the stench he had emitted.

I was optimistic that Joe was starting to understand my subtleties.

We were in a crowded subway. He blew one of his poison farts. He said, “Uh oh. My trumpet’s broken again.” He laughed and blew another one. He said, “I think it’s my tuba that’s broken.” He laughed and blew another one. Everybody got off at the next stop, and nobody got on. We had the car all to ourselves for two stops.

We went to a Yankees game. He stood up yelling when McGreevy hit a triple. He was jumping up and down yelling. I noticed his fly was unzipped. I yelled “Your bath door’s open,” he looked down and zipped up his fly.

Success! It seemed that Joe had tuned into my subtleties and was becoming a full-fledged social actor.

We were at the nYS State Fair. We were boarding the wild mouse—a roller coaster type ride. It is set up so it looks like the car you’re riding in is going off its rails and you’re about to fall to your death 200 feet below. I had never gone on the Wild Mouse before, due fear of heights. Joe made chicken sounds and quickly convinced me my fear was unfounded.

We slowly ascended to the top of ride. We could see the fair from up there. Suddenly we plummeted almost straight down, and made a turn so sharp I could feel our car coming off the rails! I was terrified and was still shaking when I got off the ride,

Joe came over to me and said softly, “Hey Eddy, you have a fudge stain on the back of your pants.” I knew instantly what he meant. Joe had given me a hint instead flat out telling me I had shit my pants on the Wild Mouse.

This gave me hope that Joe had figured things out.

I took off my sweatshirt and tied it around my waist to cover my “fudge stain” and we headed off to the dairy barn to view this year’s butter sculpture “Mayor Mamdani Hands Out Money.”