The local Boy Scout Troop puts on a pancake breakfast every 4th of July down at the Sam Bass Fire Station.  It’s quite a deal, actually:  for $3.50 ($3.00 in advance) you get all the pancakes, sausage, milk, coffee, and orange juice that you can eat.  Debra and I try to make it every year.

Advance tickets are sold by Scouts who travel door to door.  This afternoon I was being a slug–reading on the couch–when the doorbell rang.  I opened the door to find our neighborhood Scout hawking tickets for the breakfast.  So I invited him in while I went to find my wallet.  He didn’t budge so I invited him in again.  He started to stammer and get embarrassed and I finally figured out the problem (I’m dense at times).  What kind of idiot 12-year-old kid is going to step foot into a stranger’s house these days?  I apologized, got my wallet, and bought a ticket.

The kid was only being smart, which is a very sad commentary on our society.