Sam says he’s going to build his beta fish, Skeleton, a roller coaster. It’s gonna have a loop and a cave. And the cave will have a remote control bat. It’ll give Skeleton a little fright, but don’t worry. Sam said he’d stop the bat with his remote control and show Skeleton it’s just a robot, that way he’ll stop being too scared. Just thought you’d like to know what’s going on around the Burrus Zoo lately.

Now to order them, receive them, stuff ’em, stamp ’em, and get them in the mail.

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“I’m just trying to be reasonable,” he said.

“Well, I’m not interested in being reasonable,” she replied. “I’m in the middle of a hissy fit. And I realize I’m having a hissy fit…” she paused, thinking, “but I must be getting over it because I’m kind of sorry now.” She sighed and aimed a vicious stab at her salad. “I’ve just been feeling a little marginalized lately, and I’d had this on the calendar for 6 months, so I’m sort of disappointed.”

They walked through what went wrong, trading apologies here and there along the way.

“Why don’t you go write? That’s more important to you than any photography class anyway,” he suggested.

“True…” Plus there’d be unlimited coffee and pastries at Starbucks. Her mind swept the last dregs of disappointment out of the way and ushered in the cast of characters that had been beating on the door of her subconscious all day.

“I love you, you know,” he said.

She smiled at him. “I know you do.”

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It's magically delicious!

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I may have encouraged my children to eat their veggies by — how shall I say this? — embellishing their health benefits. Carrots give you eagle eyes, kale makes you jump higher, zucchini makes you run fast, etc. Maybe in the throes of my story telling I somehow forgot to stress the need to consume said vegetables in order to achieve full effect. So I really only had myself to blame when I found the boys in the midst of a footrace shouting, “ZUCCHINI!!!” at the top of their lungs.

“Mom?” Will asks, lugging a Nerf gun that looks as if it might outweigh him by several pounds.

“What’s up, babe?”

“When will it be tomorrow?”

“Umm…tomorrow?” I quip. I really hate it when I can’t come up with a truly masterful bit of sarcasm on the fly.

“Oh…” Will trails off, thinking. He cocks his head at me, like a bird examining a likely worm. “So is tomorrow a school day?”

“Yep.” Internal happy dance.

“Well, then…” he says, “tomorrow I’m not going to be feeling very well.”

“Noted. But you’re still going to school.”

Will ponders this a moment, then his lip curls slightly and his dimple pops into sharp relief.

“Fine, but I’m bringing THIS.” He slings his Nerf gun to his shoulder and unleashes a barrage of foam darts at the front door. His ammunition spent, he lowers his weapon and shoots me a toothy grin. “It’s gonna be so awesome.”

The “The Second Coming” leaps unbidden to my mind and for a moment I wonder what I’ve unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Then Will’s wolf-smile sidles away and his real smile slips in behind. Dirty Harry was just an act and Silly Willy is back to stay. He’s so beautiful — and so terrible. The one following the other in rapid succession. We all are, I suppose. With age comes discretion. Thank God we’re here to teach him, though. I shudder to think of Will Unbound.