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(Carrie's family is having lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse yesterday, and Ethan is particularly animated, telling us a story about what happened the last time he was at church)
Ethan. You know how you always tell us to eat whatever is put in front of us without complaining?
Nolan. Yes.
Aaron. (Pipes up) You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!
Carrie. That's right.
Ethan. (glares at his brother) Anyway, we had cupcakes last week after the lesson, and our teacher's son asked for a cupcake with no icing. (playwright's note: This bit in italics is delivered as if it were "dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.")
Nolan. You don't say.
Ethan. Yeah! She knew that her son didn't want icing, so she saved one without just for him. She must really love him!
Nolan. Love doesn't necessarily have anything to do with that. The world isn't going to scrape the icing off your cupcake, Ethan.
Aaron. (pipes up again) That's okay with me. I like icing.
(There is a silence, in which we all ponder what's been said and the ramifications thereof...)
Aaron. Oh. That was a metaphor, wasn't it, Dad?
Carrie. (narrowly stops herself from swearing) What the-- A.J., what kind of eight year-old knows what a metaphor is?
Ethan. (preens) The kind with a ten year-old brother!
Aaron. (glares at Ethan) The kind that ignores his brother and listens to his mom.
I don't know of what I'm more proud: The fact that Nolan USED a metaphor, or the fact that the eight year-old listens to me talk enough to know what that particular figure of speech means.
Ethan. You know how you always tell us to eat whatever is put in front of us without complaining?
Nolan. Yes.
Aaron. (Pipes up) You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!
Carrie. That's right.
Ethan. (glares at his brother) Anyway, we had cupcakes last week after the lesson, and our teacher's son asked for a cupcake with no icing. (playwright's note: This bit in italics is delivered as if it were "dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.")
Nolan. You don't say.
Ethan. Yeah! She knew that her son didn't want icing, so she saved one without just for him. She must really love him!
Nolan. Love doesn't necessarily have anything to do with that. The world isn't going to scrape the icing off your cupcake, Ethan.
Aaron. (pipes up again) That's okay with me. I like icing.
(There is a silence, in which we all ponder what's been said and the ramifications thereof...)
Aaron. Oh. That was a metaphor, wasn't it, Dad?
Carrie. (narrowly stops herself from swearing) What the-- A.J., what kind of eight year-old knows what a metaphor is?
Ethan. (preens) The kind with a ten year-old brother!
Aaron. (glares at Ethan) The kind that ignores his brother and listens to his mom.
I don't know of what I'm more proud: The fact that Nolan USED a metaphor, or the fact that the eight year-old listens to me talk enough to know what that particular figure of speech means.
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