Ray’s my next door neighbor here in Covington, Kentucky. He lives right across the hall from me. I’ve written about him here before and I’m about to again.
A few days ago, he was hanging out in my apartment. Sometimes he’ll ask me about my writing projects, so I thought I would give him a copy of my latest book (I wish I could give everybody a copy but I can’t. You can always help a writer out by going over to the right of this blog and click on “Books by Larry Gross”).
Ray looked at the cover of the book and had this to say.
“You look heavy.”
“I look heavy?”
“Yeah,” Ray said. “You look like you weigh 200 pounds in that picture.”
I was a bit taken back. I stared at him for a few seconds.
“I’ve never weighed 200 pounds in my life,” I finally replied.
“Well, I don’t know,” Ray said. “You just look heavy in the picture.”
Now I know Ray is not the type of guy who likes to push buttons and he meant what he was saying. We got off that topic but it stayed on my mind.
My average weight is usually about 150 pounds. I’m about six foot tall and consider myself thin. Looking like I weigh 200 pounds is not thin.
That image I’ve posted here is the cover of the book I gave Ray. After his visit, I showed it to another friend.
“Do I look fat in that picture?” I asked him.
“No,” he said, “not at all.”
“Are you sure?”
“You don’t look fat,” he replied back. “What’s up with you? You’re never concerned about your weight.”
He’s right. I’m not sure why Ray’s words bug me so much, but I don’t think I’ll be giving him anymore books for a while.
(Photo from Google)