There was a heat advisory today, so after getting off the subway a stop early--a new exercise discipline--I bought a drink and sat in Bryant Park to cool down before going to the library. Right away, this guy came up to my table and threw a bag of Skittles down. "Oh, no thank you," I said. "Why? Are you watching your weight?" Hmmm. "Yes." He picked up the candy and said, "And how you doing that, by drinking," he bent over, "diet peach Snapple? You know what? All you need to do to lose weight is eat seven times a day. diet Snapple, that has even more calories in it than regular Snapple, they don't tell you that." "Thanks for your help," I said, because by then he was yelling at me from the next table down. "This is what you need to drink to lose weight," he shouted, pointing to some random woman's vitamin water. "Okay!" So I just got back to my daydreaming when he came by again and waved the Skittles at me. "You really need to buy you some of these!" A few minutes later as I was walking to the library, I suddenly wished I'd asked him why he was all up in my grill! What was I doing but sitting in the shade on a hot day drinking iced tea?

Mission accomplished at the lion library--outline and draft for a "My Turn" column for Newsweek to reject.