A Mosquito and Goldie Hawn

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”*

Then again, happy families are all alike only because they’re always giggling. If they’d stop with the giggling, just for a second, they’d see they actually fit into that unhappy category. All families are unhappy at some time or another, unless they never stop giggling. It’s the damn giggling that drives me crazy.

I used to start giggling for no reason at all. Pretty soon I’d be laughing and all my brothers and sisters would be giggling or laughing, too. Eventually, someone would turn the TV on and that would end that unless, of course Laugh In or Mork and Mindy was on. Then we’d be giggling again.

That Goldie Hawn, she sure loved to giggle. Made us all a really happy family. If we’d have been able to record her and keep playing her back, over and over and over we’d there would never have been a sad moment for any of us, at least not while we were in the house. Head out the door for the school bus… Now, don’t get me started. I’m the one who had a teacher who taught her brother how to pitch and he was a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

I giggle every time I think of that because there was the time she hauled off and threw an eraser at me. Would have hit me smack dab diddle in the middle of my face if a mosquito hadn’t bit me the night before and the bite chose that moment to start itching. For the kid behind me it was like when you’re driving behind somebody and they suddenly change lanes, leaving you hitting your brakes because the guy who is now in front of you is loaded with chalk, if you know what I mean. Kinda funny, isn’t it?

*Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina