I went to the dog park in Alamosa. It's a nice park with a lake that the dogs can swim in. Lots of people bring their dogs there. On this day a fellow with a colorful shirt and long grey hair came with his corgi. He told some old jokes and offered me a sort of chewy bar that he'd gotten at the Amish market. He explained where the Amish market was but I didn't understand his directions.
"They have all kinds of stuff at the Amish market," he told me. "That's the only place where I can get fouride-free toothpaste."
"Oh sure." I said, nodding. "Say, what's that stuff even made of?"
"Oh, I don't know," he said, taking a half-smoked cigarette out of his pocket. "There's no flouride in it!"
"Right. It's just that I always thought flouride was the main ingredient in toothpaste. I thought that was the thing that cleaned your teeth."
"I don't know," he said, lighting his cigarette stub.
"I think people used to brush with saltwater. Maybe it's just that."
"I have no idea," he said and puffed his cigarette.
"They sell soy-free products too. They put soy in everything these days. I used to have a lot of health issues, and I gave up soy, and just a few years later, they were all gone!"
"I didn't know there was anything wrong with soy," I said. "I always thought it was a good source of protein."
"Oh, no," he said, finishing his cig. "You know, there's at least seven different things in soy that are bad for you!"
^ 2021/11