Hypertension
A Fergus Johnson story of gender relations
Fergus
and his wife, Doris, were driving to town. He had a doctor’s appointment to
follow-up on his new prescription for high blood pressure. They had both begun
watching their salt intake and enjoyed seeing themselves lose a few pounds of
water weight.
Fergus
had done some additional research and decided to also reduce the sources of
stress in his life. He began by declining to accept a new project at work until
he was closer to finishing the ones he was already committed to. Doris, knew
how worked-up he could get in city traffic, and volunteered to drive.
Seeing
a group of girls, standing together in front of a store, Fergus turned his gaze
to look at them. There were four, dressed in casual summer clothes — unusually
bright colors — two were wearing shorts. One of the girls in shorts had
particularly well-shaped legs — not those little toothpick legs so common on
high school kids.
Doris
saw him look. It didn’t usually bother her. Fergus tended to have high
situational awareness. Doris reminded herself that he was a “keen observer of
life." He frequently pointed out interesting details to her. Doris smiled as she
recalled the time that she had made the humorous observation that Fergus was
also “a keen observer of women.”
