Mandatory Play

As I arrived home for lunch this afternoon, I was greeted by a boisterous salutation emanating from a boy riding up the street on his scooter.

"Dad!  Dad!!  Hi, Dad!" he hollered as he turned into the driveway.

"Hi, Justin.  How has your day been?" I asked.

"I saw you drive past me just now.  You know, over by the church.  You yawned," he informed me.

"That sounds about right," I chuckled.  "I'm glad to see that you're playing outside."

"Mom told me to run around the block two times before I could come back in."

Gee, I'm shocked.

Note the word run in the last statement.  This was a detail which I had failed to translate at the time and was not alerted to until I recounted this incident to my wife.  I believe her exact words were, "What?  He's on his scooter?  I told him to run!"  Oops, sorry Justin.  The aforementioned yawning was not due to general lack of oxygen.

"Did you irritate her?" I asked, expecting the answer - yes.

"No," he stated turning his scooter around. 

I raised my eyebrows.

"I scared Logan."

I lowered my eyebrows. 

Justin began to roll down the driveway and I began to roll my eyes.  As the back of his head disappeared around the corner at the end of the block, I heard him shout.

"Well, technically, yes!"

Punk!

- 21 November 2011