Passing the Buck

Me and Dorothy get along pretty good, but ever now and then we have a little spat. Yesterday we had one that ended with both of us accusing the other of passing the buck. I'll tell you more about the spat later. This old saying of passing the buck got me to wondering where that term came from so, as I usually do, I went down to the library where I volunteer and looked it up.
Seems passing the buck comes from poker. Back in the old West when poker was played they used a procedure of passing the deal around to avoid cheating. The next person in line was given a marker to remind everyone who was the next dealer. The marker was usually a knife and knives back then often had a handle made of buckhorn. Thus the term passing the buck.

Back to me and Dorothy. About a week ago she was at the beauty parlor when her friend, Sue Sue Smith, came by and left a little package. She told me to put it in the freezer. I had no idea what it was and figured she had told Dorothy she was dropping it by. This morning Dorothy went over to her house to get it. It turned out to be some kind of gluten-free, sugar-free bread that is supposed to be real good. When Dorothy got home she was miffed at me for not telling her Sue Sue had come by. I told Dorothy she and Sue Sue should communicate better and Dorothy told me I should communicate better with her. I said, "Dorothy, don't you think this is one of those argument that ain't gonna ever get to a conclusion. In the process we gonna pass the buck back and forth so much that George Washington's picture is gonna be worn off." She said that wasn't the kind of buck that was meant in that saying and suggested I look it up. I did. It gave me new information and gave Dorothy a little time with me out of the house.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle