Reformed Basics: Creator/Creature
Understated
And of course, more here.
You Renegade, You
Jokes I Like to Tell
Once there was a happy and very verbal family, mom and dad, and four kids. All of them were garrulous, and loved to speak their minds. Their dinner table conversation was almost always on the exuberant side.
Things began to change with the birth of their fifth child. All the others had begun to speak before the age of one, but not Sam. Sam seemed bright enough, and he could understand what everybody was saying, that was evident. But he wouldn’t speak. He could gesture, and nod, and shrug, but he wouldn’t say anything. They took him to specialists, and they said that he was developmentally normal, and not to worry about it too much. But they couldn’t help but remain concerned. This is how things remained until shortly after Sam’s third birthday.
One evening, at dinner, when everyone was chatting happily, Sam looked around him, waiting for a break in the conversation. When that moment came, he pushed his plate away from him, and said loudly, “These mashed potatoes are terrible.”
The others all froze, and one of the other kids dropped his fork. There was silence for a moment, and then his mother said, “Sam . . . Sam, you can talk. You can talk . . .” She trailed off, and put her napkin to her mouth.
“Yes, I can talk. Of course I can talk.”
“But Sam,” his father said, gently. “Why did you start talking now?”
“Well, up to now, everything was fine.”