THE MIRROR

The bathroom light snaps on.  Bounding in, the preschooler reaches for his toothbrush and squeezes an overly generous amount of toothpaste on it.  Brushing vigorously for ten seconds, he grins at the mirror, spits toothpaste into the sink, throws the brush down on the counter and grins at the mirror again.  “Hurry up!” yells the teenager from the hallway.  The preschooler exits, and the teenager enters.  Peering at the mirror, he anxiously examines his newest outbreak of acne and dabs some alcohol on it.  “Hopeless!”  he mutters and hurries out, pulling on a tee shirt  as he passes by his father impatiently waiting at the doorway.  Dad strides in, picks up his razor and shaves methodically, then buttons up his shirt and carefully knots his tie.  One last quick inspection of his reflection in the mirror, and he is off to work.  Gramps pokes his head into the bathroom to make sure he’s not interrupting anyone else, and then enters to do his business.  Looking into the mirror, he runs fingers through his thinning hair and mutters “oh well, who cares?”  The light snaps off.  The mirror has done its job, for this morning at least.

 

CLOSE CALL

Andreas was an avid hiker, and early spring weather had lured him out to a national park to explore the wonders of nature.  After following a marked trail for awhile, he decided to venture off into a rocky area on the side of a mountain.  A mile or so into the rough terrain, he came upon what looked like a cave.  Bending down and peering in, he could see only darkness.  Although he was sorely tempted to enter the cave, he had no flashlight with him and thought it would be too risky; there might be loose rocks, and he didn’t want to take a chance on falling.  So he turned around and retraced his steps back to the trail.  An hour passed.  Then at the mouth of the cave appeared a dark brown snout, sniffing the spring air.  Two little snouts also appeared, copying their mother’s sniffing.  The grizzly mother was wary.  She had just awakened from her winter slumber and was hoping to feed herself and her cubs, but her sniffing brought her aggressive tendencies to the fore – she had detected the scent of a human!  Her mouth opened, showing her yellow fangs.  She sniffed again, and decided that the scent was fading, so she led her babies out into the sunshine to explore the wonders of nature.   Andreas, now back on the marked trail, was heading toward his car and civilization, blissfully unaware of his close call with the dangers of nature.