The Negotiations
Grandma and her granddaughter came into the coffee shop. They’re lovely regulars.
Today, the granddaughter declared, “I want ice cream.”
Grandma said, “No, you can’t have ice cream for lunch.”
“I want ice cream.”
“How ’bout chicken noodle soup?”
The granddaughter pouted. “I want chocolate ice cream.”
“How ’bout if you eat chicken noodle soup first and then you can have a little ice cream?”
“I will have chicken noodle soup and then chocolate ice cream,” the little girl agreed.
They moved to the counter and ordered the soup.
The barista said, “I’m sorry, we’re out of the soup.”
Grandma was amazed. “You’re out of the soup?”
“How ’bout a piece of pizza focaccia bread for lunch?” the barista suggested.
As grandma and her granddaughter agreed, the barista said, “Oh, no. We’re out of focaccia pizza, too.”
“You’re out of the pizza thing, too?” Grandma was amazed.
A breakfast burrito was suggested as a compromise.
No ice cream was ever ordered.
Yet.
Wednesday’s Wandering Thoughts
A woman and a young boy stood near me in the coffee shop. Appearing to be about ten years old, he was occupied with a phone.
Smiling, the woman asked him, “Are you playing Pokemon?”
The boy briskly nodded.
She patted his shoulder. “Your mother used to love to play Pokemon. She played all the time.”
The kid looked up at her like she’d changed into a flying creature.
I laughed to myself, kind of amazed to think that children who used to play Pokemon now have children playing Pokemon. It’s been around that long.
But it’s the thing really to think of your children having children or grandchildren. Just another measurement of how life advances.
Excuse
I have a list
In mind
As I push the shopping
Buggy
But I’m thinking of you
Wondering –
Is there anything I can
Buy
To make you
Happy?
That’s why I forgot
The cheese
Michael Seidel, writer 