Tick in Her Eye

1965. Catholic school girls at a mandatory Mass.

"Hey," whispers one to her friends,

"Have you heard that new

Beatles song? It goes,

'She's got a tick in her eye

and she don't care.'"

Their teacher, a nun they nicknamed

Big Bad John, is not amused and,

once they are back in the classroom,

tells them to put their heads

down on their desks

and think about their disgraceful behavior

in the house of God.

When my sister

told me this story years ago

she said she realized two things:

that stifling her laughter,

with her head down on her desk,

in the presence of an angry nun

made her realize that she had

more self-control than she

ever dreamed of,

and that inappropriate laughter

is the best kind of laughter there is. - Jeff Barnes