Silence

I was watching this silent movie this morning. It was a jungle picture and the actors, as in all the old silent films, used facial expressions to get the point across. Immediately I thought of my grandpa on my mother's side. He was what you might call a laconic man. I bet he spoke no more than a hundred words a day. When he did say something you remembered it because it wasn't all muddled up with a bunch of inane comments. The way he got his message to us was by the look on his face. There was never a doubt when he was happy and you certainly knew to look out when he was angry. I remember one day when I was coming home with a bad report card and I passed his house. He was sitting on the front porch and called me over. I reckon some of his ability to express himself visually was in my genes, because he read me like a book. Without a word from me he knew something was amiss. His stare pierced my brain until I blurted out the bad news about the "D" in geography. Then he spoke.
"Well, boy. It's time like these you need to think of as a starting over point. I know when you come by here next time with a school card, you're going to have an "A" in that geography."
And I did.