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Dee's grandchildren, Elsa
and Randy were so jealous of each other. When they were together there was
a need to keep close by in order to referee.
No one but Dee was home
that day and it was a bit of a trial to keep the peace. She was knee deep
in the noon meal preparation but this didn't stop the fighting and
bickering. The children became more and more embroiled in their private
war.
Bang, bang slammed the back
screen door. She knew it was Elsa to complain about Randy's calling her a
name. Along with the three R's he had learned something else at school.
“Gramma! Gramma! Randy
called me a boo boo head!”
“Oh dear. Ask him to
please, not call you that, although I don't think it means anything.
Just something he made up.”
Elsa slammed back out the
door and Dee heard her say, “Gramma said you better not call me that
again.”
Under her breath Dee
muttered. “Not exactly the advice I gave! Let's see where was I? Oh
yes, slicing the tomatoes.”
In what seemed like less
than five minutes Elsa was back through the slamming screen door. “Again,
with the door!” Dee noted.
“Gramma! Gramma! Randy
called me a cyclops!”
“Cyclops? Where did he
hear cyclops?” Dee thought out loud. Elsa go back out and ask him what
is a cyclops?”
Elsa was out through that
same door and Dee heard her say, “Gramma said you better not call me that
again!”
“Oh well.” Dee muttered.
“I think I was mashing the potatoes.”
Again came the banging of
the back door. “Gramma! Gramma! Randy called me.............”
Dee caught her in mid
sentence. “Elsa, I need help here. Grab those glasses out of the
dishwasher. They were never put away but at least they are clean. Here,
you can finish mashing these potatoes.”
Elsa was glad to get the
opportunity to plop around in the mashed potatoes and she was temporarily
distracted.
Somehow, it always seemed a
miracle to see the children sitting around the table with shiny clean
faces and hands. Elsa was the mistress of reading. This year she had won
two awards. One for reading one hundred and twenty-five books and one for
top grades. With this new skill she was reading a story to the children.
With grown up decision making she had chosen a Mother Goose rhyming book.
After the meal was mostly
finished Dee felt it was the time to speak to Randy about this newly
learned name calling he was practising.
“Randy, I know you have
just learned this fascinating new thing of name calling.”
Something in his conscience
told him it was wrong and he was quietly looking toward his Gramma Dee.
“You know we do have to
think about some things. Let's say you are all grown-up. Can you picture
this. Say you are all grown-up. Maybe you have studied hard at school
and you are a doctor or a lawyer. You are sitting behind your desk
waiting for your next patient or client. When they come in and sit down
what if you say, “Hi there! Boo-boo head!” “What do you think will
happen?”
Randy was very quietly
listening, but could not decide on an answer. The silence of the room was
golden. If it had been something they tried to achieve it would not have
been this perfect.
“Do you have any ideas
about it?” Dee pressed the issue. Still there was silence but this time
Elsa in her grown up newly achieved reasoning ability piped up.
“I know what will happen!”
Elsa was knowledgeable. “Randy, you will loose all your money.”
This wasn't exactly the
answer Dee was trying to pull out of Randy, but it seemed to make more of
an impact on the child. He rolled his eyes around and suddenly had an
alert look to his half grin. The grandmother realized the acumen of these
space age children and, although, she had no way to identify with them
what did it matter? The point had been made, and taken. From that day
forward there was a total end to the name calling problem. |
