“Man, I’m already sick of getting up in the dark to feed the cattle and the short days of winter are barely beginning,” moaned George MacKenzie when the gang assembled at Mabel’s Grill recently.
“And feeding the animals at night,” grumbled Dave Winston.
“Hey, you’re feeding pigs in a nice warm barn,” argued Cliff Murray. “I have to get hay out for my sheep.”
“It’s such a depressing time of year,” sighed George. “The beautiful leaves have fallen off the trees and we’re worried about snow and there’s nothing to look forward to.”
“Good morning,” Molly Whiteside greeted them warmly as she delivered the menus. “How’s everybody this morning?”
“You’re sickeningly cheery,” grumbled Dave. “We were just complaining because the days are getting so short.
“Well everything is in proportion,” Molly replied. “I mean Remembrance Day is coming up.”
“What’s so cheerful about that,” grumbled George. “Everybody’s sad on Remembrance Day.”
“Yea, but that was the day over 100 years ago that the First World War ended. I bet people were happy then, even though the days were short” Molly said.
“I suppose,” Cliff admitted.
“And the U.S. Thanksgiving is coming up before the end of the month,” Molly continued. “And they have that big Christmas parade in New York on Thanksgiving Day to kick off the Christmas season.”
Despite the guys’ gloomy moods, Molly managed to brighten them enough that they all bought bigger breakfasts than they had planned on and Molly headed back to the kitchen with their orders.
“Funny how Macy’s has their Christmas parade on U.S. Thanksgiving,” Cliff said. “It kind of delays the beginning of the holiday season.”
“Yeah, but here, the stores can barely wait after cleaning up on Halloween costumes and decorations and treats before they start making us feel guilty for not buying Christmas presents,” said Dave.
“My wife has always sent Christmas cards this time of the year but last year they all got stuck in the mail because of the postal strike,” George said. “We were in a big store in the mall the other day and she passed right by the cards on sale. When I said something about her not buying any cards she said she was going to skip it after last year.”
“Yeah, hardly anybody sends cards any more,” Cliff said. “My wife used to put the cards on a ribbon all around the door. We get so few cards these days she doesn’t bother – in fact she saves cards from one year to the next so it seems like more.”
George shook his head. “The guys at the post office just don’t get it! They go on strike so people stop sending stuff in the mail and still think they should make more money!”
“We’re just supposed to cough up more money in taxes to bale Canada Post out and keep them getting more,” grumbled Dave.
“I didn’t mention it but I saw back when they last were on strike that some of those people get seven weeks paid holidays!” Cliff said.
“Well I won’t holler if they get 52 weeks, unpaid,” George grumbled.
Molly returned to refill their coffee cups. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that Mabel’s put up the coffee by 10 cents a cup, but the refills are free.”
“Good grief, every time I turn around the prices are going up!” George thundered.
“Well the price went up 10 cents at Tim Hortons more than a month ago,” Molly replied.
“Everybody’s always trying to get more money!” George grumbled.
“Well blame it on your friend Donald Trump,” Cliff smirked. “We get most of our roasted coffee from the States and he put a 50 per cent U.S. tariff on imports from Brazil, where the coffee is grown.”
George had no answer for that. He hardly said a word while they finished breakfast.◊