I have a friend who is involved with, or rather she is associated with, a man who finds women everywhere he goes. He finds mother substitutes, specifically, and it’s just uncanny. He finds these women… or they find him and form a line, waiting to meet his needs.

There is nothing you can do about something like this outside of observe it… and people do. The women don’t really compete. Instead they remark to each other… “Look at how many mothers he has…” The man is in his 40s. I told her this story...

When my daughter was a baby… about 3 years old or so, she used to like to ride on those mechanical grocery store ponies. Around here, they cost a penny, which I think it pretty cool. One cent and you can actually buy something worth having.

So one day, after paying for my groceries, we headed over to the pony per our ritual and found the pony occupied. There was a little boy on the pony… dark-haired, grinning and seriously over-fed. You know. This was a well-loved kid, if you know what I mean. A lot of people do this with their first baby, right? They spoil them. And this boy in particular was from a culture where boys are revered... girls not so much.

So anyway, this kid is on the pony and he’s happy. And his mother is clapping for him… she enthusiastic about her son, to say the least. So they make quite a pair these two, and then the the pony stops. Uh oh!

Kid starts screaming his head off. The mother looks at me and I keep a blank face. None of my business, right? She shrugs and puts another penny in the pony, making a point to focus on this little boy… her little prince, clapping and cooing and so forth. It's in her body language see. She turns slightly so my daughter and I and obliterated from her reality... some.

See, never mind my daughter and I are waiting… maybe our ice cream is melting, we are going to stand there and wait while these two have their… thing. So the pony gallops and gallops and gallops and mother coos and coos and coos and the boy grins and beams and grins and then the pony stops.