The Hair Wagging the Frog

“WAG #6: Overheard” Another people-watching exercise this week! This time, let’s listen! Choose a stranger and do your best to overhear what they say, and then write it down. It can be on the phone, to someone else, or even them talking to themselves. What does their voice, word choice, or tone tell you about them? Feel free to write their exact words OR write it as you would for fictional dialogue. By now you guys know the rules aren’t what’s important, but the experience!

"How are you?"
"Just fine as frog hair. . . .And if you know about frog hair, then you know how fine that is."

After that, they walked out of my range of hearing, leaving me alone to muse the mysteries and meaning of the frog hair metaphor. And, don't ya know, as soon as I could, I just hopped right to it.

The initiator was male and the "feel" (read sound) of his question struck me as more than passing interest but not so much as suitor-esque. The answerer was female and gave a response that was playful, bordering on whimsical, but, with the follow-up remark that she offered, showed an interest in continuing the conversation. Thus, the first speaker was showing a more than casual interest and the second speaker was promoting a more than accurate dis-interest. I couldn't discern color of hair and eyes or any other bodily features since the characters were hidden from view behind one of the clinic's drawn curtains; however, and I don't really know how to explain this without appealing to social types already sedimented in my stock of knowledge, but I got the distinct impression that the male was a little taller than the female. The timbre of each voice fell in a range of compatibility, leading me to believe that they were close to the same size and there might have been some kind of mutual interest between them; they did, after all, walk off together.

My imaginings went wild. What if:

"Fine as frog hair? Where did you get THAT?"
"You ha'nt ever caught a frog and felt its silky hair?"
"N-o-o; and I don't believe they even have hair."
"Down where I come from, you can git a tiny little comb for combin' frog hair at the country store right there down the road from our house 'bout a half a mile."
"Uh-huh...and why would anyone buy such a comb?
"Why to make the finest little fishin' line to use on your tad pole."