but when I looked down, I was still standing in that awful dog turd. And when I looked up, who should I see coming out of her gate but the girl I had the date with, so I undid the strap, pulled my foot out of the purple sock, and left sandal, sock, and bouquet under the notice board of our soccer club and fled into the fields, where I sat and meditated on that fateful omen, because even then I had vowed to spend my life compacting wastepaper for the access it would give me to fine books.
