Breaking Through the Smile Barrier

Last night Dorothy made what she calls Creme Brulee. She let me use my littlest blowtorch to make the top work like the top on Creme Brulee is supposed to work. You know before you eat it you got to break through the top crust by tapping it with your spoon. It got me to thinking about this old woman that use to live in Harper who never smiled. At least not until she got her smile barrier broke. For years this old woman whose name was Hattie Pearl Grey walked around with a sour look on her face. I told my mamma I thought this old crone was the meanest woman in the world. My mamma told me I should not make fun of her because she probably was born without the muscles in her face necessary to produce the upward movement of a smile. For years I believed this. Then one day her husband was out mowing the yard when all hell broke loose. He ran over a yellow jacket nest in the ground in an area that he had not mowed over in years. The yellow jackets were real upset about this and started to take their revenge on old man Grey. His wife was sitting on the porch pealing figs. She stood when she saw him swatting and trying to make a get-away. He ran as fast as his old legs could carry him and ended up by jumping on Harper Lake, only a few feet from where he left the lawn mover. That's what caused the muscles in his wife's face to crack loose. When she told the story later she claimed it wasn't just a smile that presented itself, it was an outright grin. Somebody said they didn't understand how she could laugh when her husband was in such danger. Old lady Grey said, "There warn't no real danger. That boy can swim real good. Besides don't go judging me. I daresay if you had been there you would have laughed too at them skinny legs churning their way down to the water." And Hattie Pearl was a big smiler after that. The story goes that when she died the undertaker has to do considerable work to keep her smile from being too big; not to scare the viewers, doncha know?