I Look Like A Dork

I had to go renew my driver's license before it expired next week on my birthday. Why do I always look like a dork or a criminal on ID photos? I shower, fix my hair and wear a red shirt. I compose my features and make sure I'm not smiling too big so I'm squinting and look shifty... and I still end up looking like a dork or a woman just out of the slammer. I guess I should be grateful that I don't look deranged. Durwood always looks handsome, smiling like a movie star, his ice blue eyes shining. Men! What is it with them? They lose weight easily and they look great on their driver's license photo. We hates 'em.

August 26--Lord Howe Island. Julian sat on the top of the rock that formed the northern end of the island. There was a boulder behind him that blocked most of the chilly wind that funneled between Lord Howe and the neighboring island. His hands cramped with the strength of the grip he kept on his binoculars and his thigh muscles shook as he tried to stretch them without rising and giving away his position. He'd been in place too long, but he didn't think of leaving. What he was doing was too vital. The intelligence he sent down the line in coded bursts let the troops prepare for what was coming toward them. The captains of the ships that passed never knew that their lives were in his hands. A gray smudge on the horizon caught his attention and he slowly lifted his binoculars so that there was no flash from the sun that might give away his perch. A destroyer, no, two escorting a carrier. He began composing his dispatch, never noticing the faint white trail as the sixteen-inch shell sped his way. He was vaporized by the time the sound of the shot reached his hide.

I have no idea where Lord Howe Island is or if there's another island next to it or if a war was ever fought there. Probably because people being people they're always fighting for one stupid reason or another. It's a miracle this many of us have survived this long. Happy weekending!
--Barbara