The Company of Dogs

An acquaintance dropped by for a visit recently. This acquaintance was there to see one of my housemates who wasn't home, but I invited em in anyway. We exchanged pleasantries, gave brief updates on our lives, and pet the dogs. As our conversation was quickly grinding to a halt, this acquaintance made a comment about good it is to have the company of dogs. "You can just pet them and you don't have to say anything. Since I've been in town, I keep seeing people I kind of know and have nothing to say to. After a few sentences, it's over, but you're still awkwardly there with each other. It's not like that with a dog."

I panicked. This acquaintance had accurately described the situation as I currently saw it unfolding. But if he were conscious of the fact that this were occurring, ey wouldn't dare say it aloud, would ey? I guess I don't know em that well, which is exactly the point! I gave a half-hearted "yeah" to agree to the point ey expressed even though it made me nervous.

We continued petting the dogs. I wanted to say something, because it seemed like maybe this person gave our relationship more credit than I had, that we should be able to break the barrier of having nothing to say to one another, but I could think of nothing. The whole situation made me so anxious that I hadn't realized how vigorously I was rubbing my now irritated puppy. We sat in silence petting the dogs for another five minutes, though it felt like hours. By that point, even the acquaintance must have also realized that we, too, had nothing to say, making his previous comment accurate and turning an awkward situation into a super awkward situation.

Ey was right about the dogs, though. You don't have to say shit to dogs, and they're still great company. Finally, I excused myself to take a shower (because that's some pressing event that requires cutting off a non-existent conversation, right?) and we parted ways. Awkward, awkward, awkward.