WATCHING FOR THE SIGNS

Linda had said she would go to dinner with Harold, but she wasn't happy about it.

"This is going to be horrible," she told Margo, shortly before she expected Harold to arrive.

"Maybe he's nice," commented Margo, not very concerned.

"You know what he is. He's a sign painter." Linda rolled her eyes." He probably went to sign painting college. Probably learned how to do political campaign materials."

"Here's one feature of that: maybe he will hang a sign around your neck that says 'Take me,'" laughed Margo.

"I wish…." said Linda. "Really…I wish I had not agreed to this."

"I could assist you here. You could take your sister along," said Margo, in a bit of humor, "For the free meal." Of course, Margo thought Linda would dispute this ….But no….

"What kind of a story could we make up?" said Linda, suddenly serious.

"Here's my version," said Margo. "We tell him I am just new in town. Or maybe that I'm a victim, a refugee from a huge storm in Florida."

"He's nice…So I'll just inform him that Free-meal Margo will join us for dinner. Now, we must not dress you up too much."

"Do jeans appeal to you?"

"Well, no… Wear a skirt. We still want him to take us to a good place."

When Harold arrived, he was a little surprised to have Margo come along, dressed plainly.  "I won't deny it. I like someone of the other sex who is not too intense about dressing, " he said, smiling.

They all went to dinner. It went without incident, but Linda was not happy. The social climate could have been called "freezing." Linda appeared very glad when her dinner came. Harold was telling Margo about sign painting.

"Sign painting is a very personal art," he said. "You have to research the market territory, and establish the message what the owner wants people to know."

"And you have to capture it quickly, all in one sign," Margo said.

Linda, cutting into her meat, stopped to roll her eyes.

"Yes, and we try to make people feel something good as well," said Harold.

"That's wonderful," said Margo.

Linda rolled her eyes again.

"If you'd like, I can show you some of my signs after dinner," offered Harold to both.

"At your apartment?" Linda asked. She quit cutting her bite of meat and rolled her eyes twice. "Why am I not surprised."

"No," said Harold, "We can just drive around the town.  I estimate there are about 20 of my signs in this town of ours."

"We're a little busy," protested Linda.

"I'm not," said Margo, her eyes like blank disks.

Linda made the hostile little motions with her mouth, but with no sound: Why am I not surprised.

"OK…Well, we can just drop you off," said Margo with a very big smile back to Linda.

"That would be fine," said Linda, recovering as if nothing had just happened.

 On the way to drop Linda at her house, Harold drove past a community center. Its sign was bright and inviting. Because Linda would be dropped off, Margo took the front seat.

"That's mine," Harold said, identifying the sign for them.

"That's cool," said Margo. "Really cool." Linda was occupying herself in the back seat, sticking her fingers down her throat, quietly criticizing Margo for chasing Harold.

Then they passed a popular new bar with Harold's new sign supported on the outside structure. Many people were outside in the night, waiting to go in. A few stylishly dressed men were smoking. One handsome young man was talking with the people outside.

"That's the owner," Harold said, as the handsome man saw Harold and came over to their car at the curb. Margo rolled down her window and the man bent down to talk with them.

"Hello, Harold," he said. "This new sign is great. More people are coming in every day, and everyone's talking about our new, modern tradition." He sounded quite cultured.

"That's great," said Harold. "I was just showing my friends here some of my signs. Mark, this is Margo, and her sister Linda in the back."

"You girls are lucky to know this guy," he said. "Say…Do you want to come in? Purchases are on me today…for Harold's friends."

Harold paused. "Well, we needed to get Linda home."

"NO, NO, no…no…"said Linda from the back. "No...It can wait. I'd love to come in."

"I want to see some more signs," said Margo, giving Linda a little peace treaty.

Linda rolled her eyes one last time, but then said: "It's not an issue…Mark and I can wait for you here."

Harold looked at Mark.

"It's fine …Our security for a woman is very good here," said Mark, opening the back door.

"OK…Great," said Harold, as Linda quickly slipped out the back door, and took Mark's waiting hand.

Driving away, Harold smiled. "I don't think your sister liked looking at signs anyway."

"She'll have a good time."

"I hope so," said Harold. "We'll come back and get her in a while."

"Won't Mark take her home?"

"Well…maybe…But…well…Did you notice that all the people outside the bar were men?"

Margo thought. "Uh…I guess so."

"Well, that's the way it is inside the bar as well."

"Oh…Well, she'll love that situation."

"Maybe…" said Harold, rolling his eyes. "Or maybe not..."

"Oh….really?" Margo began to understand. Then she looked strangely at Harold.

"But not ME," he laughed.

"That's nice, then." said Margo. "Let's go see some signs."

Ready-to-Use

a.      issue: important issue  "Training doctors is an important issue."

b.     community: world community  "The Olympics is held for the whole world community."

c.      sex: have sex   "Animals make baby animals by having sex."

d.     concern: to be concerned with something  "We are all concerned with global warming."

e.      protest: protest against something  "Sometimes teachers protest their low wages."

f.      recover: recover from something   "Doctors help you recover from illness."

g.     inform: inform somebody about something   "We informed the police about the broken glass on the road."

h.     humor: sense of humor  "George makes everyone laugh with his great sense of humor."