“What’s wrong?”
[Shakes sleepy head.]
“Honey?”
“Wah, the gas went out of my balloon over night.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” [Big hug. Wipe tears from her cheek. She got a helium balloon at the Protestant costume party yesterday.] “Eat your cereal. Or would you like toast?”
[Shakes head again.]
“Maybe we should take a look at your balloon.”
[Nods.]
“You know, this is a common phenomenon with helium balloons. They’re a little porous and the gas leaks out overnight. Let’s try cutting off the string and see if that helps.”
[Skeptical look.]
[Child and big sister watch dad cut string, release balloon, which sinks oh-so-slowly to floor.]
“Well, that’s a little better, heh. Let me try one more thing.” [Rubs balloon on shirt, sticks it to wall.]
“Yay!” [She tries sticking balloon to various places on wall.]
“Whew.”
[Big sister goes back to brushing her hair.]
Later, saw Teddy-Bear Guy in traffic again. He’s about 35, sandy hair, rides in the back seat of a beige compact car driven by a woman in her 50s. He looks straight ahead and holds a medium-sized teddy bear to his lips. There is a “handicapped” decal adhered to the rear window of the car.
I wonder if the tortoise is still hibernating. She’s in a box in the cellar. I should check on her.
Do you really have a hibernating tortoise, or is that some sort of “It puts the lotion in the bucket” thing?
And…you should buy Teddy-Bear Guy a Domokun:
http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~sts839/domo/
That way he can be handicapped “in style”!
I work with a rider at the school who has a modus operandi similar to Teddy Bear Guy’s. This young man likes to smell each item in the grooming box before he uses it on the horse. He puts a brush to his nose, and just stands there, smelling it and smiling. It’s impossible to be impatient with him…he looks so happy.
Ah, the horse smell.
That reminds me of a family deathbed story: An old female relative of my paternal grandmother (horsey Swedes from Montana)lay dying and her last wish was to feel the nose of a horse. So they led one to the window of her room and stuck its head through for her.
I’m thinking that school does some people good.
(The tortoise is real.)