The Boy with the Big Mouth

In a North Carolina convention center at least 25 years ago, I saw a young associate worker yawn real big. Teasing him, I said, “You need to learn to keep your mouth shut.” His face paled.

“How did you know about that?” he asked.

Then he began to confess an awful mess of private stuff to me that he had blurted out to a company executive which got him reprimanded. And on he went. At some point I think he saw me resisting a grin.

“What?” he paused to ask.

“Gary,” I said looking at his puzzled face, “I was only teasing you about how really big you open your mouth when you yawn.”