Dialogue On the Way to Grandma’s House
My daughter is in the back seat of the Volvo. I can see her eating a peanut butter sandwich. She is her car seat. Her face is in the rearview mirror.
“Why are we going to grandma’s house?”
“Because it is Mother’s Day.”
“But she is not my mother.”
“No, but she is my mother.”
“When is Grandmother’s Day?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could it be tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Because you have to go to school.”
“Why do I have to go to school?”
“Because you like school.”
“What if I didn’t like it?”
“But you do.”
“What if I didn’t?”
“You would still have to go.”
“What if you die when I am in school?”
“That is not going t happen.”
“But what if?”
“Honey, it is not going to happen.”
“What if I die when I go to school?”
“You are not going to die when you go to school?”
“How do you know?”
“I just know. You are a little girl.”
“But what if?”
“It is not going to happen.”
“Would you be sad?”
“I would be so sad that I would cry forever.”
“What is forever?”
“A long, long time.”
“How long?”
“The longest, longest, time in the whole world.”
“In the universe?”
“Yes. In the universe?”
“When will the universe die?”
“Never.”
“How do you know?”
“Einstein told me.”
“How does he know?”
“He worked it out in school.”
“Oh.”
The Catfish Review 