Monday, October 18th, 2010

The Curious Incident of the Car in the Night-Time

posted by lizzie    « 2 Comments »    tied to Simon, the day-to-day, visitors   

Simon’s car was sitting on the living room rug when I woke up the other morning. Suspicious. We’d spent several minutes the night before searching for it so he could take it to bed with him. How did it get out there when Simon was still sleeping? Curious indeed.

We were puzzled, but didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe I would confront Simon with the puzzle when he woke up. But as we were getting ready to go later that morning, Simon beat me to the punch. Maybe he was weighed down with guilt and needed to confess. Maybe he needed to tell me about this strangely vivid dream. In any case he said, “Mom, can I tell you a story?” Of course, child, tell away!

This is his story:

“Last night, when Abby came home, she waked me up and I wanted to play but she said it wasn’t time to play and then I was hungry and I wanted a cheese stick but Abby couldn’t find a cheese stick so she asked me if I wanted some circle cheese but I didn’t want any and then I went to sleep.”

Hmmm. Fascinating story. Could it have been made up? A dream perhaps? I could personally verify that he had been awake when I went to bed around midnight, but had no idea when Abby came home. Would she corroborate the story? Indeed she would. But with slight variations:

She came home at 1:00 in the morning, and Simon, sitting at the dining room table gave her a bit of a start.

He was hungry and wanted breakfast.

It’s not time for breakfast.

He wanted to play.

He could play in his room.

He wanted to play in the living room.

Fine.

He wanted a cheese stick.

There aren’t any cheese sticks, but would he like some provolone?

No thanks, it’s time to sleep.

And the car, forgotten in the blur of the sleepless night, sat forlorn on the rug until the morning came and the parents wondered if it hadn’t sprouted legs and come out on its own.

Comments

  1. meg says:
    October 18, 2010 at 3:30 am

    Great story. I love this age, when they can tell you what’s going on, and you can kind of mostly believe them, and whatever they say is priceless.

  2. Becca says:
    October 19, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Hilarious. At least there is much truth to Simon’s story. I told my students the story of the cobra from the Philippines and was astounded (I should have known better) at the tales that ensued. One little boy spoke in great detail of the cobra he attacked with a baseball bat on the kitchen table when he heard it hissing from the living room. So entertaining. Really adorable coming from Simon. After the fourth snake story I told the class how impressed I was with their imaginations. :)

Leave a Comment