In picking up my groceries the other day, I thanked the cashier for showing up for work despite the risk she was taking.

No one must have thanked her that morning because she beamed as if I had handed her a $100 tip.

It’s no surprise that a few friendly words can mean a lot in these troubled times.

One of the best qualities of Southerners is our ability to get along with each other – most of the time – and laugh in the face of disease, death and destruction.

A fellow editor in Saskatchewan assures us that Canadians can do it, too.

The following came by email from Brad Brown of the Quad Town Forum in Vibank.

If you give a mouse a deadly and highly contagious virus, they’re going to ask for a lifetime supply of toilet paper.

When you give them the toilet paper, they’ll probably plan a large group playdate, go for a walk with friends despite an order to self isolate, accept an invite to a birthday party across the street, or travel long distances to attend a spring break party before they even open one roll, because the rules around public safety apparently apply to everyone but them.

When they’re finished arriving at their destination, they might ask you to watch them on social media, bragging about or defending their irresponsible exploits.

Then they will want to look in the mirror to make sure they don’t have BS in their mustache which they do, no question, but may not be able to see. When they look in the mirror they inexplicably might still like what they see, and may even take a selfie to commemorate the moment.

When they’re finished taking the selfie, hopefully, they’ll realize the error of their ways and want a digital broom to sweep the evidence away. They’ll start deleting. They might get carried away and even end up cursing at and blocking those who try to impart common sense on them.

When they are done they will probably be emotionally exhausted and want to take a nap. They’ll crawl into bed, make themselves comfortable, fluff the pillow a few times and ask you to read them a story.

You’ll read to them from one of your books about containing a global health pandemic. They’ll ask to see the picture. When they see the picture they’ll get so excited they will want to draw one of their own.

They’ll ask for paper and crayons since they seem to have the maturity of a 4-yearold, and they’ll draw a picture – possibly of one of the events they recently attended.

When the picture is finished, if they’re not yet ashamed of their own behavior, they may want to sign their name with a pen. Then they’ll want to hang their picture on your fridge, just to emphasize that they are above both common sense and the law.

This means they’ll need Scotch tape.

They’ll hang up their drawing and stand back to look at it. That will remind them that they are hungry and/or thirsty. So they’ll ask for some food and water.

And chances are if they ask you for food and water, they’re going to need another year’s worth of toilet paper.

Thanks, Brad. It sounds like Northern mice are as childish as Southern ones.

Why mice or people become obsessed with toilet paper is beyond reason.

Let’s smile and thank each other.

Next: Good news in bad times

What’s your opinion?

Think some of us are as foolish as mice or are we better? Please let me know what you think at JerryBellune@yahoo.com .