I earlier reported on a couple itinerant Lake State Rail locomotives — numbers 1174 and 1166. They were both in town at the time, but then they were gone. Probably, they hightailed it south with a load of limestone.

Recently, locomotive 1166 reappeared. But it was no longer in tandem with 1174. Instead, it had taken up with engine 1164. You have to expect this sort of thing when different locomotives run the same track.

Last week, I mailed a letter — first-class mail — to Cincinnati, Ohio. I do that from time to time. It usually takes two to three days to get there. However, this time it took seven days. I talked to a lady in Cincinnati, and she told me the mail has been slowed. I had heard there were problems. Now, having experienced one, I know the unfortunate truth of it.

Between new locomotives appearing, their relationships switching, mail taking longer to get where it’s going for reasons disturbing — I’ve started to wonder where it is we are heading.

Add an AK-47 or two, a threat to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a sheriff who opined the planned assault might have been an attempt at a lawful citizen’s arrest, and things start drifting over toward the bizarre.

Arrested? For what? Being a smart, powerful woman trying to protect her constituents from a pandemic? Could that sheriff have experienced an emasculation reaction?

After the sheriff’s malfunction, our president came ’round and resumed calling her names, “Half-Whit-mer,” and taking potshots at her. “Lock them all up,” he said, placing her in danger again — even though she has paid her taxes.

Criticism aimed by the president at Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading immunologist doing his best to protect us, has caused Fauci to require security to protect himself and his family.

These “stains of seething hostility stoked by our president” have been directed not only at people but at valid assertions, making it difficult to exchange ideas — let alone engage in a polite conversation.

My father told me there would be changes during my lifetime — but this has been ridiculous. In retrospect, I can see my old man failed to take into consideration truth avoidance and name-calling. He was a World War II veteran, so it probably never occurred to him anyone would want to call him a name because of that.

Mark Twain said: “My mind has lost confidence.” Though I’ve not yet lost mine — confidence — I’m beginning to see how it could happen.

We need Twain again, and, lucky for us, he came back. I recently spent an evening with him in Rogers City.

OK, it wasn’t him. But what an outstanding performance Karl Heidemann gave at the Rogers City Theater as a stand-in.

Heidemann did Twain like a pro, in costuming that was perfect, his hair long enough to navigate discerning lines, rendering them with feeling and a depth that was Mark Twain clear and convincing.

Wouldn’t it be a comfort to call out that sounding “Mark Twain” concerning our political navigation?

Twain said, “When in doubt, tell the truth.”

There’s plenty of doubt — caused by too many assaults on truth and the people trying to speak it. It’s time to forgo the perversity of ignoring it and them — time to start pulling together again.

We have freight to haul.

Doug Pugh’s “Vignettes” runs weekly on Saturdays. He can be reached at pughda@gmail.com.