Buying time
Robert and I had a very important assignment in town. We were going watch shopping. He was going to buy his first real watch and needed someone to go look with him. Before you dismiss us as two idle grown men, hear me out. A genuine watch doesn’t come cheap so you do not want to buy a fake after being separated from the tidy sum that comes with such a purchase.
He picked me up from home and as I got into his car, Lisa, his six-year-old daughter was in the backseat staring at me with a playful grin. A grin that said she expected a lot of games on this trip. I smiled at her while whispering a question to her father. “Chief this is not go-play-with-the-children day is it?” He told me to relax, as we were to drop the youngster off at her aunt’s place. This was reassuring.
I couldn’t wait to see some watches because I have somewhat of a fetish for expertly crafted timepieces. I never tell the toddler’s mother the real cost of the few watches I have bought over the years for the simple reason that I am a peace loving man.
On the drive, the child was bubbly asking many questions that we took turns answering As we drove through Ntinda, a Caucasian male was walking on the side of the road with a dog. This was no ordinary dog. To put it simply, this was a long cylinder with legs attached to it.
The little girl saw the unusual dog and shot. “Daddy what breed of dog is that.” This child is six and already knows that dogs have breeds. Robert looked at me cluelessly and told his daughter to ask Uncle Mark. I didn’t want to appear ignorant but I truthfully had no idea what this crazy looking dog was called. But we had to save face.
“Sausage Dog,” I blurted out as Robert gave me a look that seemed to say “I hope you are not feeding my daughter a bunch of boloney.”
A quick Google search on my phone said the dog breed is called Dachshund. I tried to pronouce it for the little girl to the best of my ability. I probably got it wrong. A strange dog with an equally strange name.
Eventually we dropped off the little girl. When we got to city we parked along Buganda road and marched off in search of the watch for Robert. He settled for a silicone strapped Fossil Nate that he paid for while wincing much to my delight. I gave him a few strategies on what to tell his wife when she saw it and started asking very hard questions.
