Don’t Tread on Me

“I guess we didn’t eat enough, you think?”

In the race to outer space at the dinner table – the one who eats the fastest gets to the stars first, a game invented by the kids – a question came up after my four-year-old son decided he wasn’t going to fuel his rocket with the evening’s lentil stew. What happens if you don’t eat?

I posed the question.

My six-year-old daughter looked at me as if I had two heads.

“You won’t grow, silly,” she said.

Then she said, “I know what will happen. You will shrink and you’ll turn into an ant. That’s what will happen.

“And then you’ll have to be very careful so that nobody eats you by mistake, and you’ll have to watch out for Maple (our four-ton dog) or else she will lick you up and swallow you. And Rain (our new kitten), oh boy, she will play with you like a toy and then you’ll get hurt. She may even eat you up, too.

“I know what you have to do. You have to build a cage to keep safe on the floor and on the table. Everywhere.”

The two kids sat in silence for a few seconds and then my daughter started digging into her dinner again.

The four-year-old looked down at his plate of stew, picked up his fork and plunged in, now eating with relish. The pace picked up and they were off again on another race to outer space.

It seems safer up there.




More stories on: Things Funny (and Sometimes Gross)
{ 2 comments… add one }
  • Li October 9, 2009, 5:37 pm

    Hola Charlie! Como estas? Como estan todos? Espero que bien!
    De a poco voy leyendo tus publicaciones, pero todavia me cuesta un poco leer en ingles…
    Te dejo la direccion de mi blog…
    unmundomejorexiste.bolgspot.com

    Saludos a todos!
    Los quiero! ♥

    Lihue.

  • Charles Newbery October 26, 2009, 12:37 pm

    Lihue,
    Voy a mirar a tu blog. Me parece interesante. Nos vemos pronto!

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