Plus One: Mom...what made this? This...everything?
Me: Do you mean the city, bud?
Plus One: No, like, the whole Earf. What made the Earf?
The traffic light turned red and I swallowed hard. I'm never prepared for this shit. Just the other day, a drive home from school was the scene of a spontaneous and unprompted inquisition about human reproduction and the circle of life. I made a mental note to have their father start driving them around more often.
Me: Ah...well...I suppose I'd have to say that nobody knows for sure who made the Earth. But there are some theories.
Maybe that would hold him? Fat chance.
Plus One: What feories? Wait...what's a feory?
Me: Well, it's an educated guess, basically. Some people think that God made the Earth. Others think it was a little bit of God and a little bit of science. And some people think it was just science. It would depend on who you ask, buddy. What do you think?
Plus One: HMM...
I can hear a smile in his voice.
Plus One: My feory is that it was a little bit of God, a little bit of science, and a LOT of goodness.
The light turned green and my heart swelled.
Me: I think that's a great theory, Plus One. I really do.
T9 had been silent until now, and spoke with a soft voice.
T9: Mommy?
Me: Yes, buddy?
T9: I haf a feory TOO!
Me: Yeah? Let's hear it!
T9: MY feory is...
There was a dramatic pause that Plus One had no patience for.
Plus One: Just SAY it already!
T9: It's...it's...it's A HOT DOG FEORY!
The two of them laughed and laughed, and I breathed a sigh of relief, driving us home through the work zones and detours and machinery.
Sometimes there are good parenting moments. I think this was one of them.
