I\u2019m in a \u201ctime out\u201d zone at a large shopping mall. I call it the husband corral. But, like Br\u2019er Rabbit, when Br\u2019er Fox and Br\u2019er Wolf threw him into a briar patch, I\u2019m in my \u201chappy\u201d place. (Can\u2019t relate to the Br\u2019er Rabbit comparison? Too far back in time for you to have heard of it? Then, look it up, Google it.)<\/p>\n
Anyhow, when I\u2019m in a mall on a bench, I\u2019m happy; I\u2019m doing my favorite thing: watching people and writing. Men in their first shopping time-out<\/i> fidget in their seat and complain about it to us old guys, but we offer no sympathy. They have to learn to entertain themselves when in the husband corral. We did. <\/span><\/p>\n Some of them were sent to the corral because when they tagged along with their wives they acted like a five year old, tugging at mommy\u2019s skirt and asking again and again, \u201cCan we go now?\u201d Time out on a bench is what they get for their whining.<\/p>\n These new recruits whine out loud, \u201cShe said she\u2019d be right back.\u201d That\u2019s what they heard, but not what she meant. A translation of \u201cright back\u201d doesn\u2019t have a numerical value; it can vary from five minutes (something that almost never happens) to thirty minutes or more. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s fun to try to guess when a time out sentence will conclude. And to wonder if the sentence will be commuted, or that you will go on parole and be moved to a new time out zone outside a different store. I\u2019ve played the guessing game for decades, wondering how long my sentence would be. I seldom guessed right. <\/p>\n But I don\u2019t care; I\u2019m in my \u201cHappy Place,\u201d and today it gave me this essay. The most important part of a new recruit\u2019s training is to apply the Boy Scout Motto, \u201cBe prepared.\u201d Prepared to entertain yourself on a bench by watching people, reading, or like me, writing about what you see and counting the sighs and whines of new convicts in the husband corral. Eventually, you\u2019ll look forward to a shopping trip. I know I do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m in a \u201ctime out\u201d zone at a large shopping mall. I call it the husband corral. But, like Br\u2019er Rabbit, when Br\u2019er Fox and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":82349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n