“Special Entertainment”

I arrived at my daughter’s home in Houston, TX in the heat of the day. It was right after lunch when I tried the door and realized it was locked. Great. I knew Jessica was most likely putting the baby down for a nap.

Suddenly, Grant Thomas showed up on the other side of the glass. Saved by the three-year-old! My grandson was obviously as happy to see me as I was to see him. “Can you open the door for Keggie?” I asked, several times. Grant kept grinning but each time I asked about the door he’d shake his head no and say something I couldn’t make out. By the time his mother appeared, only minutes later, I was already beginning to wilt. Jessica was grinning, too. After letting me in to the blessed air conditioned room, she told me what Grant had been saying: “No, Keggie. Mama say don’t open the door.” Now, clearly, Jessica didn’t mean he couldn’t open the door for his grandmother, but part of the charm of little ones is their readiness to take things literally. It reminds me of a story I heard once from a lady named Mary Kate.

Mary Kate told of attending a fancy dinner party at her boss’ house for his firm’s employees and their spouses. She said at one point during the evening, two little children entered the dining room totally nude and began to walk slowly around the dining table. The boss and his wife turned red but they both chose to pretend that nothing was happening and continued their conversation. Taking their cue from the hosts, Mary Kate and the other guests ignored the children, too.

Mary Kate said that after making their way around the room, the little exhibitionists left as quickly as they had arrived. During the embarrassing silence that followed, one of them could be heard in the next room. “You see,” he was telling his sister, “It is vanishing cream!”

Hugs,
Shellie