“Ah, yes, summertime,” said Dave Winston, as he sat down at the table at Mabel’s Grill on a recent morning. “I see by the parking lot the American tourists are already invading the country. Did you see out there was a car with a New York licence plate right next to a crew-cab pick-up with a Michigan licence.”
    “It’s great to see,” said Molly Whiteside as she delivered their menus. “Those people know how to tip – and the fact they leave American dollars is even better!”
    “Must be nice to get away on vacations!” grumbled George Mackenzie as he opened his menu.
    “Huh! You’ve got cattle on pasture that feed themselves. I’ve got pigs in a barn that need to be fed every morning and cleaned out and have a whole lot of chores to do everyday,” said Dave. 
    “And a few hundred acres of corn, wheat and soybeans which grow whether you’re in the field or not,” slipped in Cliff Murray with a sly smile.
    “Yeah, well I have to worry if we were going to get enough rain to keep crops growing,” Dave said sourly.
    “Yes, I  keep an eye on my sheep pasture,” sighed Cliff. 
    “At least you don’t have to worry about forest fires,” said Molly. “All those people up north are worried about towns burning down because they’re surrounded by trees.”
    “Thank heavens my great-grandparents cut down so many trees so they had land to farm,” said George. “I’m sure glad they didn’t have any of those tree-huggers around back then so we had a lot more trees to burn.”
    Molly had taken their orders and was on her way back to the kitchen when a man at a table halfway across the dining room stood up to leave. As he did so, he slipped on a red hat with the Make America Great Again logo on the front. He was about to pass three guys at another table when one of the guys said something to the other guys who shared his table, not loud enough for our local guys to hear but obviously the guy in the hat did. The other guys laughed
    “What’d you say!” he barked at the guy in the MAGA hat, loud enough that Don, George and Cliff looked up.
    “I said one of the good things about coming north of the border is that we leave all the Trump stuff  behind,” the other guy said.
    “Are you saying Donald Trump is wrong?” the MAGA guy said, standing in front of the other guy while his wife tugged at his sleeve and pushed their kids to the door.
    “I’m only saying he broke the law,” the seated man said.
    Hearing all this Molly turned back from the kitchen and headed toward the two men.
    “Just because Joe Biden and the Democrats are trying to keep him from winning the next election doesn’t mean he deserves to be harassed,” the MAGA guy said, grabbing the other guy’s shoulder.
    By now Molly had reached the table. “Now fellas, we have rules against discussing politics in Mabel’s so . . .” but that was as far as she got. The seated guy stood up and the MAGA guy pushed Molly aside.
    Dave, as the youngest, was the first on his feet and headed for the dispute as quickly as he could. Cliff and George weren’t far behind. By this time the two men were facing each other but Dave stepped in front of the MAGA guy and George and Cliff confronted the others.
    “Okay, fellas, let’s calm down,” Dave said quietly. The MAGA guy’s wife tugged him away and he grudgingly backed out the door.
    Things calmed down as they left. The other three guys, already on their feet, decided to leave. They were at the counter paying when one looked out the window and saw the MAGA family with their big red pick-up leave a scrape all down the side of their car. They were in the parking lot as fast as they could but the guy was gone.
    “I wonder if they left tips Molly thought were big enough?” Cliff chuckled.◊