Smirk gets me in trouble

GALLUP, N.M. — My dear mother would scold me when I messed up … which almost always prompted me to smirk at her.

She would get angry at my seeming indifference, telling me to “wipe that smirk off your face or else I’ll wipe it off for you.” I usually got the message.

My smirkiness got me in trouble at times when I was inducted into the Army in 1968. Our drill sergeants would get on my case for one reason or another. My reaction? That’s right: the smirk.

I am still smirking, actually laughing out loud at political statements I deem to be non-serious. The “funniest” statement I keep hearing? It’s the one that says “Democrats cheated during the2020 presidential election. Donald Trump won.”

Well … nothing could be funnier than the defamatory statements that law-abiding, faithful public servants would engineer a fake election result. And, yes, it makes me laugh.

Toby the Puppy and I are en route to the Pacific Coast, where Donald Trump isn’t held in the kind of high esteem he is in other regions of the country. We’re traveling in our pickup with its Texas license plates.

I don’t expect this to happen, but a part of me kinda/sorta expects it: Some motorist well might decide to flip me the bird as we pass on the highway.

What will I do? How will I react? I will smirk … and then laugh out loud.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com