From The Storyteller
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Surprise
It’s Friday before the Memorial Day Weekend, and Elaine and I agree a day trip to the Margaritaville Resort in Conroe might be fun. The food was excellent and sitting outside on their Landshark Bar & Grill patio, overlooking Lake Conroe, proved to be the perfect location for a warm May afternoon. While Jimmy wasn’t physically there, his spirit was. I was in people-watcher heaven with four middle aged women seated at a table right next to us. From their conversation, they sounded like teachers, enjoying a long lunch break on their last non-student workday before summer. The table talk held no surprises and might be heard in virtually every “high school teacher’s lounge” across the country. Thus, it was no surprise when they started passing their phones around showing their personal collection of pictures of their kids and grandkids. Again, it was no surprise each of the pictures of babies were greeted with appropriate “awes”. Clearly three of the four were enjoying the pictures, while woman number four said nothing. Finally, when she did speak, what she said was so surprising it caught my attention, and the response of the ladies at the table was total shocked silence. Her comment was, “I hate babies.” Then she made it clear she hated puppies and kittens also. I believe, if the woman were to have confessed to being an axe murderer, it would have been received better. Lunch ended in silence shortly thereafter, and I surprised myself by smiling. It happened when I began to recall some of the times I brought silence to a room with a comment. Which brings me to an observation: On some occasions the best surprise is no surprise, and some opinions are better left unsaid. Moral: Often not surprising folks with your opinion is a good thing. |