August 06, 2005

Opal is about 5 feet tall, and feisty. She never lets signs get in her way. On the way into the market today we saw a sign that said pretty much what you would expect any sign to say — “Shoes and shirts must be worn.”

From the corner of my eye I saw her taking off her shoe and readying her camera. I knew what she wanted to do.

“You’ll never be able to get your foot close enough to the sign,” I said. After all, the sign was hanging almost one foot above her head. But that didn’t stop her. She just lifted her leg higher and higher until her foot was almost all the way up the wall.

A strange ballet ensued as we tried to photograph her feat. Neither Martin nor I have ever seen anything like that. We were surprised, shocked. And so was the man with too many golden chains who happened to walk out of the market at that time.

“Impressive,” he said.

Opal is all about disregarding signs with impunity. “It’s a good thing I kept my shirt on,” she said later when we were searching for animals.