Julia’s Approach to Compliments
Please leave your good-intentioned words like a nut on the sidewalk, and take at least 4 steps back. Meld into the background.
When the coast is clear, Julia will scurry down and grab the nut, scurry backwards up the tree, never taking her eyes off you in case the nut was bait in a trap. When deep in her tree cave, she’ll set it up to really get a look at it and say, “WHAT IS THIS?”
After some careful consideration, she will scurry back down and inform you whether or not she believes this nut is real, not poisoned and from a well-meaning source, and usually that’s just a matter of if her tail is happy or not.
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Is nut a euphemism for something else? Your guess is as good as mine. I was trying to be literal regarding my feelings with compliments. Is the moat starting to feel like a maze yet?