The scene: Food court atrium kids area. Cartoon Network showing on several TVs near the ceiling. A lad of perhaps four years of age is sitting quietly, staring up at one of the screens, licking a raspberry sorbet on a chocolate-dipped sugar cone, a perfect Johnny-Depp-style raspberry goatee forming on his chin. The boy’s parents are sitting in the Martini Lounge nearby.
Myself and the Daughter-of-Eve approach while The Wife goes to round up some burgers and onion rings. The daughter momentarily eyes the young gent and his cone, but diverts her attention to the bean bag chairs nearby, takes a run and belly flops onto the nearest one. Continues flopping, rolling, lolling, running, flopping, flipping, screeching. A copy of The Inlander is sitting there, so I pick it up and begin reading an article about Ted Nugent.
Now the Daughter-of-Eve (nearly three years old herself, mind you) has carried a chair over near the young man with the raspberry goatee, a friendly boy. They sit side by side glazing up at screen, the TV exerting its hypnotic power, but the raspberry sorbet vying for attention.
I look down at the newspaper, read a few more lines about the madness of Ted Nugent, and when I look up again the Daughter-of-Eve has scooted her chair as close as she can get to little Master Raspberry Goatee. They are both examining the seductive forbidden-fruit quality of the raspberry sorbet, smiling, carrying on a lively discussion, it would seem, of the wonderful properties of raspberry sorbet in a chocolate-dipped sugar cone.
Nonchalantly, I saunter over and sit down next to the Daughter-of-Eve. The Cartoon Network is featuring a spider and a pink elephant doing PG-rated things which I’ve no time to ponder because I need to intervene before this little sorbet-chinned Casanova makes his move.
Myself: Hey, what are you doing?
Daughter-of-Eve: Watching TV with this boy. He’s eating ice cream.
Myself: OK, but you may not have any ice cream right now, OK? First we have to eat dinner and if you eat a lot of your hamburger, maybe we’ll get some ice cream.
Daughter-of-Eve: He has an ice cream cone!
Myself: Yeah, that’s because he already had his dinner. [Looking at Goatee] Right?
Raspberry Goatee: No I didn’t!
The Inlander? As in Inland Empire (NW version)? I was just up in your neck of the woods last week revisiting childhood (and collegehood) haunts.
Hello Theocoid. Yes, home of the 1974 World Fair. Where did you go to college?
I went to Gonzaga for one year, but I also lived on Fairchild AFB for 7 and in Medical Lake (no wisecracks, there) for 2. We had season passes to the world’s fair and went to the carnival exactly 1 time (rassle frassin’…).
It’s nice to see the restoration projects downtown. Seems to go in waves there.
Yeah, some good things seem to be happening in Spokane … and at Gonzaga.
I like your blog — great name for a blog, too. I’m learning a lot from your study notes. Thanks.
Potter, stop sucking up to other bloggers and (as any trial lawyer will tell you) only ask questions to which you know the answer.