I stop at a nearby convenience store for coffee sometimes in the morning.

There are almost always big men in trucks or older retired men sitting at the orange tables drinking coffee,  talking and laughing and gossiping, or kidding each other or talking about the weather, or the stupid things flatlanders like me say and do.

Flatlanders (outsiders) and the locals depend on each other and mostly get along, but rarely cross social boundaries to hang out with one another.

I am never asked to join in these conversations and never ask myself, it would just be inappropriate, something you know and don’t need to be told.

I have never been invited to a Super Bown Party so I don’t really know what it is that men talk about when they gather like this, and I get claustrophobic sometimes when trapped in a small space doing small talk or banter.

I rarely, if ever, see women at these tables talking. It seems they also understand it’s something of a taboo. I wonder if they banter also.

Maria banters all the time – kids who grew up with siblings often do.

Nobody ever bantered in my family and there was no normal or small talk, so I’m not practiced at that and can’t really tell when she’s joking much of the time.

I think as I get older, I find it harder to banter, although I love recognizable jokes and we both laugh a lot.

My misreading of banter used to lead to some heated misunderstandings but we’ve worked it out.  We try not to take life or one another too seriously.

I sometimes idle close to these men, but I don’t like to eavesdrop and I rarely get a sense of what they are talking about.

Perhaps I’ll invite one of my two or three new male friends to meet me there early in the morning and I’ll learn what it is that men talk about early in the morning at our local convenience store.

I liked this photo a lot, an Edward Hopper image if there ever was one.