So he says hey...

"Holmes." The man called me "Holmes." I think that's what he said. Maybe it was "Homes." It sure sounded like "Holmes." He looked to be younger than me, maybe 10 years it's hard to tell on well fed white men sometimes. He asked me to do him a favor and I complied. He was polite when I returned in two minutes with his simple request, maybe he expected me to give him a hard time, want to fight, use foul language or something like that. You get that from some people you know.

How did he peg me as a "Holmes?" I was dressed in a way that gave away absolutely nothing about myself or personal style other than I was a white male. In other words I had a uniform of the most nondescript kind. I was silent when he approached me, I would like to have surprised him with "No comprehende" in some obscure Balkan tongue. I would have liked to say, "just a minute, it is time to turn and face Mecca to pray and I will be right with you." I would have like to asked him if he wanted to buy a watch real cheap. I could have broken into song, "Help, I need somebody, Help!"

When I got home I looked at the big white dog and said, "Hey Holmes."

You just never know what kind of weirdo will come up to you these days.