My Daughter Said She'd Burn This Book! -- by L. David Mark

      Christmas shopping. Actually, looking for shoelaces at the K-Mart at Springfield Plaza. But it was Christmas time, so I could have been Christmas shopping had I seen something that took my fancy. Encountered two ordinary-looking women, one with a bright red pimple on her nose, as they walked toward their car & I neared the store. Had the urge to say to the one, "Is that red zit on your nose special for Christmas?"

      Didn't. Repressed the urge. And now it haunts me unfulfilled.

      A few days beore, I wore the bright Christmas vest my sister Jane gifted to me some few years ago. So long ago I can't remember when & everyone at work who sees the vest tells me I've been wearing it for Christmas as long as they can remember.

      Nice looking, shapely woman I don't know speaks as we meet in the hallway coming back from the Administration Building.

      "Love your vest," she says.

      "You have a really nice bosom," I repress in response, instead just murmuring, "Thank you."

      Well, why not? It would have been meant as a compliment, just as her comment about my vest was.

      But, in retrospect, I guess my daughter's right when she said, "Dad, you are really weird sometimes!"

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