March 7, 2006

Travelin' Jones

I have been literally knee-deep in organic gardening products the past few days, and unless at least half of the stuff I planted survives, I have several asses to kick at the Natural Gardener.

In the meantime, Peach announced the other night that she was going on a long trip. She packed a dishtowel with her glasses, some plastic horses, and a pen, tied it all to a wooden spoon, and met me in the laundry room with this:

P: (whispering) I'm just pretending. Ask me where I'm going.

LT: Where ya goin' there?

P: Well, I'm leaving on a long trip.

LT: Oh - well, I'll sure miss you. Do you think you'll ever come back?

P: I don't know. Bye. (turning to leave the laundry room)

(Pause)

P: (running at me with eyes full of huge tears) I don't want to go! I don't want to leave you!

(much crying)

LT: It's OK. It's OK. You were just pretending. I know you weren't really leaving.

P: (more crying) I don't know why I'm crying! (shades of things to come in about 7 years!)

LT: It's just that you're such a great actress, you made yourself believe that you were really leaving! You have such a great imagination that you thought it was real! I know you're not really going.

(crying starts to subside)

LT: Why don't you get in the tent and pretend that you're camping and you can tell me all about it.

P: I'll need some paper.

Over the next hour, these notes were periodically slipped out from under the tent:

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
I hope you don't miss me. I am in the jungle. I saw a monkey and a hyena, too!
P.S. I miss you.
P.P.S. I am OK.

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
I will not leave out any detail about Japan. It was great. First I was eating on pillows which were really fluffy!
P.S. I am OK.

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
You want to guess where I am? That's right. California. Good old California. I saw a movie star!
P.S. I went to Hollywood.

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
Do you want to guess again? Well, that's right. Florida! I went to Disneyworld. I rode the Dumbo ride and the Peter Pan ride!
P.S. I saw Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

The journey ended, for now, at bedtime, but she tells me her next stop is Africa. I'll keep you posted.

2 comments:

Karla May said...

That's some funny shit. Too bad you probably just wadded up her notes and threw them away. NOT!

Will you see if she'll go to Roatan off of the coast of Honduras and check that out for me? It was on "International House Hunters" last night, and I'm intruiged.

Thanks.

Bookhart said...

How old is she again? Somehow I think she and Wonder Boy would get along JUST FINE.