Both men and women stared at me and said nothing. A
woman 1 a housecoat was startled
2 I came around the corner of her
house. 3 the sound of my greeting, she
gathered her housecoat tightly about her and moved 4
indoors. I heard the lock click. 5
woman had a strange, large animal 6
her yard. I asked her what kind of dog it was. She gasped at me.
I thought she was hard 7 hearing and
asked my question louder. She seemed a little frightened before she turned
coldly 8 . The nice
response came from women alone. 9 the
way they replied and asked after my health, I knew that at the day’s end when
they listed the nice things they had done, there would be a place on the
10 for "I spoke to the trashman
today."