“So did you hear there’s going to be another Royal baby?” Molly Whiteside asked brightly as she filled the guys’ cups at Mabel’s Grill one recent morning.

“I tried to ignore it but the news got through my defenses anyway,” said Cliff Murray.

“I don’t know why it’s such a big deal because the Royal Family seems to be breeding like flies these days,” grumbled George McKenzie.

“Well I think it’s great news that Harry and Meghan are having their first baby,” said Molly defensively.

“So does my wife,” sighed Dave Winston. “We’ll have to find room for another commemorative plate on the kitchen wall.”

“I’ll bet the people who make those plates hope the Royals keep getting married and having kids,” said Cliff. 

“Not to mention all the British tabloids,” said Molly. “They’ll be selling papers for months with pictures of every inch Meghan’s belly grows. Not to mention speculation on whether it’s going to be a boy or girl and what the name will be.”

“Sometimes I think royal weddings and such keep the British economy afloat,” said George.

“See, it’s a good job the princes and their wives keep having kids,” said Molly.

“Well about the best thing I can say about the news of this baby is that it knocked all the stuff about marijuana out of the headlines for an hour or so,” said Dave. “Man, with all the attention the media has paid to this, you’d think there was nothing more important in the world than the legalization of marijuana!”

“That’s because all those reporters can finally smoke legally and admit it,” growled George. “We’ve been getting news under the influence of pot for years and didn’t know it.”

“I don’t know,” argued Cliff. “If they’d been on a blissful high you’d think they’d have found a little more good news to tell us about than they have.”

“Well I wish I’d had money to invest in the stock of some of these marijuana companies,” said Mabel as she came out of the kitchen and heard the guys talking. “Those stocks just keep going up and up!”

“Maybe the people buying them are already smoking up,” suggested George.

“What gets me is that some of those companies are worth billions on their stocks but they haven’t even turned a profit yet,” said Mabel.

“Nice work, that,” said Dave. “Wish I could sell that argument to my bank manager the way profits in hogs have been lately.”

“Well I see pot’s at least going to help to keep Canada Post afloat,” said Cliff. “I read that when people buy marijuana by mail order, the post office has got the contract to deliver it.”

“Make’s sense,” said George. “The way Canada Post’s been run lately I think the guys at the top might be the best pot customers.”

“Hmmm. Could be interesting,” said Dave. “Last week my mail carrier got her delivery mixed up and I got three magazines of my neighbour’s. Imagine if they deliver somebody’s marijuana to the wrong address.”

“Might kind of let your secret out, if I got your pot delivery by mistake,” Cliff joked to George.

“Yeah, right!” snorted George.

“You think he’d be as grumpy as he is if he was getting high and mellow?” asked Molly.

“I don’t know, I’ve been hearing about some side effects that nobody ever mentioned about pot before, like paranoia,” said Mabel.

“Now that sounds more like George,” laughed Molly.

“What’s this, pick on George morning?” wondered George.

“Well I can see one good side effect for all this for farmers,” said Cliff. “If people get the munchies as they say, it might mean people eat more of the food we produce.”

“Yeah, so we get more obese people but at least they’re happy!” said Mabel.◊