Why Do Elephants Have Red Toenails?

*To hide in the strawberry patch. Duh!

I had dinner with Jack and Mrs. Jack on Tuesday night. For the most part, it was a lovely meal, with good company and great conversation. Except there was an elephant in the room.

You know what it is like when there is an elephant in the room, right? Wouldn't it just be nice if a conversation could go like this:

Person 1: "Hey did you see that elephant in the room?"
Person 2: "Yea, I wonder how it got in. Did you leave the door open?"
Person 1: "No, but the window was ajar when I was here a bit earlier. Perhaps it snuck in."
Person 1 and 2 in unison: "Hmmm..."

Instead, it goes something like this:

Person 1: "Do you smell something?"
Person 2: "Aren't those peanut shells on the floor?"
Person 1: "Is that ivory right over there next to that big lumpy gray thing?"
Person 1 and 2 in unison: "Hmmm..."

In our case, the elephant was my meeting with Flip. You see, Mr. and Mrs. Jack are very good friends with Mrs. Late Attorney Jon. Flip, the attorney assigned by the Alabama BAR Association to handle all things related to Late Attorney Jon, had to ask the Mrs. Late Attorney Jon for my files. And, of course, there was no explanation other than I was coming to town and the Late Attorney Jon didn't finish what he started. One could (very easily) speculate this might be cause for a malpractice claim.

So, there I was having dinner with Jack and Mrs. Jack. And every so often the conversation would steer to Mrs. Late Attorney Jon. Or, out of the blue Jack would say something like "What brings you to Birmingham?" or "So, have you had any business meetings since you arrived?" or "What do you plan on doing at 2:27 p.m. on Wednesday?"

I decided, as soon as I caught on to his line of questioning, not to tell him anything unless he asked flat out. It doesn't concern Jack. And I don't want to tell him his dear friend of 30 years kinda missed the boat on a simple matter he was supposed to take care of. But, if he came out and asked, I would have shared--in a simple, let's-not-get-carried-away-it-is-no-big-deal-sort-of-fashion. I trust Jack completely, I just don't want him involved with this.

However, Jack didn't ask. Instead, he danced around it, so I made a game of waiting to see how long it would take him to get to the point.  Possibly next week when I am up to it, I will send him a quick note and mention I saw Flip (turns out they know each other). And, maybe I will also causally mention I saw the elephant in the room.