Thursday, April 8, 2010

Galloping Gourmet

"Can I go to Mexico this summer?" asked my middle son.

"Leave me alone, I'm busy," I told him.

"Seriously," he said.

"Yes, seriously, I'm busy. I'm working."

""Why didn't you finish it at the office?"

"Because I had too much to do," I said.

"Where'd you go for lunch?" he sneered.

"That's not the point," I said.

"What did you have?"

"Hủ Tiếu Mì."

"What does that mean?"

"It means 'delicious.'"

"So you weren't working."

"Knock it off," I said. "You sound like your mother."

"Anyway, can I go to Mexico?" he repeated.

"Don't be stupid."

"You're stupid," he said.

"This whole conversation is stupid," I said.

"Does that mean I can go?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, finally turning to look at him.

"My friend S. is going and his mom said I could come too if it's okay with you and mom."

"How much does it cost?"

"I don't know," he said. "You'd only have to pay for the plane ticket."

"Plus a passport," I said. "Unless I sneak you over the border late at night. You probably wouldn't make it back, then. That would be very sad."

"Be quiet."

"I love you, buddy."

"So can I?" he asked, again.

"You're going to Mexico, your older brother's going to Australia and New Zealand, and where am I going? Nowhere. That's where I always am, right?"

"Dad, you're getting agitated. Besides, you're going somewhere."

"Where?"

"Little Rock."

"For three days. For a conference."

"You can go out to eat."

"Where?" I demanded.

"I bet they have good barbecue," he said.

"You're probably right," I said, turning back to my computer and typing in 'restaurant' and 'little rock.'"

"I thought you had work to do," said the boy.

"I'm doing it," I said.

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

You can go to WI, Snag!!! :)

Good for you and for your kids. Travel is good and you know it and you wouldn't change anything even if it meant you got to go to NZ and they got to go to Little Rock! Oh wait... maybe you would...

Snag in Little Rock... I bet we'll be reading about it for days.

There was a town... and a man... about to collide... nothing would be the same.

Vonnie said...

Do you want to adopt me? There are some trips I'd like to take too. Like London, maybe New Zealand, Niagra Falls....

Substance McGravitas said...

Not sure why you haven't involved the kids in barbeque cook-offs...

Snag said...

Von, you need to be adopted by my mother. If I were to send my children on a trip, it would be one-way.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

If I was adopted by Snag's mother, then Snag and I would be brothers. I could design a clubhouse, to be built down by the creek, and Snag could stock it with bourbon and meat. We could listen to appallingly loud music and let our hair grow long. Then we would light out for the Territories.

Jennifer said...

I'd like to see that. :)

Kathleen said...

I'm sitting here trying to think up a funny comment and I realize I literally know nothing about Little Rock.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Little Rock is where the American Taekwondo Association Nationals are every year. I will have to make my first attempt at my next rank either there, or in Las Vegas, in a couple of years.

I hope Snag is there when all the TKD geeks are.