Okay. There is no time for this now, as I am dealing with Housework Insurmountable, but this is too funny Not to record it.
The picture: Emma Grace and friend Gillian, done up in plastic jewelry and my old slips, Queen and Princess, respectively. Everett and Clay, armed with plastic guns. They are spies, guards, and villains, depending on whim. All four children are playing together and separately, also depending on whim.
A short while ago, the girls made to follow the boys downstairs. The boys, guards at this point, told them not to follow. I, passing by with laundry basket, casually mentioned to the girls that they might wish to heed what the guards said. I saw Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard, on video, back in 1994. You have to do what these people tell you. The girls haven’t seen this movie. “Why?” said the girls. “Because,” I told them, “if you go there, you might be walking into danger.”
Apparently, this had some kind of ring to it, because both of the boys repeated it as they made off down the steps. “Yeah, you might be walking into danger.”
Since then, some screaming, whispering, and running has taken place. I am attentive to this noise, even as I try to mind my own business, if only because I prefer my business to theirs. They are getting along fine, really, even though they can’t seem to decide if they are playing with or against one another. I only interferred once, when the boys forced the door open. You should Never Play With Doors.
And now, most recently, the girls stood at the top of the stairs again, still bedecked in plastic jewelry, looking regal. The boys were headed downstairs again and, once again, admonished the girls not to follow.
“Why?” lisped sweet Gillian. “Why can’t we go downstairs?”
“Because.” Everett was swaggering away, and tossed this over his shoulder: “Because you might get into trouble.”
Gillian had a hard time getting the question out, struggling, I think, to give voice to her urgent logic. “But why…. Why? Why…? How come you guys can go there if it will get us into trouble?” In other words, if there is trouble ahead, won’t it also be trouble for you?
Excellent question.
Everett’s response was startlingly self-aware: “Because,” he said, pausing on the stairs and looking over his shoulder to answer, “we’re the trouble.”
