Traveling through the vale of tears but almost out of gas

  A funny story to make up for the sparse and depressing posts of the past few weeks.

  You may remember "Dr. A" from this post. He's my friend at work, thanks to both of us being generally cheerful oddballs with weird names. His first name, which he is known by, calls to mind a man of Indian or Middle Eastern persuasion, yet Dr. A is a sixty-something redhead from Chicago. I really don't know. Anyway, a few weeks ago, the following exchange took place when Dr. A wandered in to my work space.

Dr. A: Hello!

ALB: Hello!

Dr. A: *in a strange accent* Hello! *a pause* What accent are we doing?

ALB: What accent are you doing?

Dr. A: I was imitating you.

ALB: Oh. That's just... how I talk.

Dr. A: *longer pause* Where are you from again?

ALB: East Tennessee.

Dr. A: Ah.


  Undercover hillbilly status = possibly compromised.