Vingettes of Boy Conversation....The Snake and the Tornado

A long haired brunette pushes a stroller with a 41 lb boy in it. It's a brisk morning and she's trying to haul fast enough to get her other boy to school on time. While walking, her oldest boy notices the ivy hanging from the sides of a cold, concrete retaining wall.

"Mommy", he says, " Do snakes like living in the poison ivy?" ( all ivy in his world... is "poison ivy")

He knows his mother cannot stand snakes but he felt the need to bring up the conversation anyway.

"Probably", she says, "though I don't want to talk about snakes. They creep me out."

"Don't let them creep you out, Mommy. They live behind glass, they won't eat you.", he says in a consoling tone.

"At the zoo they live behind glass, out here they're out in the open. Seriously, I don't want to talk about snakes. They creep me out."

A minute goes by and nothing is said. As they begin to climb the big hill he starts again.

"Mommy, what do snakes eat?", he asked.

She sighs...will this never end?

"Rats and stuff, maybe bugs, depends on the snake." she replies hoping this will be the end of it. Of course, we all know it won't be.

"I think the snake... ( now there's apparently one snake in the whole world and you can see his mind take off on this story through his big, dark jeweled eyes)

I think the snake eats the tornado!!! And it spins and spins in his mouth....
and tickles his epiglottis."

The end