Small talk at the dog park

I’ve been taking Big Lips Bruno to the dog park almost every day for four years. Bruno is a grey and silver brindle mastiff with floppy ears and a cropped tail. From time to time we’ll meet up with a black and bronze mastiff with cropped ears and a long floppy tail. I’ve never had more than a passing “how ya doin’” with that other mastiff’s dad, until today. He used to deliver his pooch to the dog park in an orange Audi RS3. I was a car guy and I notice stuff like that. In the past week I notice Buddy has been bringing his brindle in a new RS7. That caught my attention. That’s a serious car. Over 600 horsepower out of a 4.0 litre V8. It’ll beat a Dodge Hellcat in a drag race. I’m not somebody who strikes up conversations with strangers, but I couldn’t help myself. “I see you got yourself a new winter-beater.” “Ha ha! No, I traded in the RS3 for its big brother.” So we get to chatting about his 1980 Corvette and my 1973 Trans Am SD, and about how messed up it is that the Germans can get more out of a four litre V8 than the Americans can get out of a supercharged 6.2 litre hemi. He had no idea we were talking about the demise of the American Empire.