"I'm just going to write because I can't help it."- Charlotte Brontë


Friday, April 20, 2012

Out Of Smart-Mouthed Babes

Scene: On board a V-Line train.
Characters:
Mother, Father, two over-excited children of the are-we-there-yet type, and an eavesdropping commuter with a laptop.

First Sibling, pointing out window:
Look, look! It’s kind of a train!
Second Sibling (scathingly): Not kind of a train! It is a train.

An argument then ensues about what First Sibling actually meant by ‘kind of’. Second Sibling, a pint-sized pedant, will not give an inch, while Second Sibling grows louder and increasingly desperate to salvage some credibility.

Mother: Be quiet, both of you! It doesn’t matter what anyone said.

Dramatic pause.

Second Sibling (in a shocked tone): But Mummy, it does matter!

Eavesdropping commuter silently applauds.

No comments: