Fighting the Pirate King

When Isabella, my 6 year old granddaughter, asked, “Grandpa, why do you have the big scar in the middle of your chest?” I told her the truth, the whole truth, because you must never lie to a child. If you do, you may finish up with a child who can't be trusted—a child who may turn out to be a politician—either a little liberal or else a little conservative or something even worse. Of course there was no reason to confuse her by telling her about my mitral valve replacement and the horror of waking up intubated and unable to talk, frantically waving my hand around to show that I wanted a pencil and paper to …