Nine lives
A train.
Girl: There were nine. . . there were nine. . . there were nine, there were nine cats on a boat. One of them jumps into the water. How many cats are left?
Mother, doubtful: Eight.
Girl: No! There are zero; 'cos they were all copycats!
Mother, laughing: That's very clever! That's very very clever. Did you come up with that yourself?
Girl: Jack told it at assembly. But he said 'people', I made it 'cats'.
Mother: Well it's much more clever with 'cats', because of the punchline.
Girl: But Jack said it!
Mother: You said it with 'cats', didn't you? It's more clever with 'cats'—
Girl: Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats!
(Pause.)
Mother, patiently: It's very clever. I don't think you understand how clever it is.
Girl: There were nine. . . there were nine. . . there were nine, there were nine cats on a boat. One of them jumps into the water. How many cats are left?
Mother, doubtful: Eight.
Girl: No! There are zero; 'cos they were all copycats!
Mother, laughing: That's very clever! That's very very clever. Did you come up with that yourself?
Girl: Jack told it at assembly. But he said 'people', I made it 'cats'.
Mother: Well it's much more clever with 'cats', because of the punchline.
Girl: But Jack said it!
Mother: You said it with 'cats', didn't you? It's more clever with 'cats'—
Girl: Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats, cats!
(Pause.)
Mother, patiently: It's very clever. I don't think you understand how clever it is.
6 comments:
Sounds like you lost three of your own, just having to sit there.
this is the best thing I've read in ten years!
You hit the objective corelative on the nose... on the hilt, ...on the what-ch-ma'call-it.
...
and the mother is a Hamlet figure!
with the girl incorporating a Rosenguildernsternian-opheliac quality, with Polonius writen all over it.
bravo
brava
ad infinitum...
Thanks, Parasamgate.
I have a four year old and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that post.
Somewhat the inverse of l'esprit de l'escalier, isn't it? One says something clever, but doesn't realize its cleverness until reaching the staircase. (Obviously, Girl has a much longer walk than usual...)
I have an unbelievably cute nine year old boy who, the other day, asked me to take a long, close look at my body so as to learn more about it. He wants to do really well in his science class.
Kids: too bad you don't have any.
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