“Is there anything you don’t know, Mom?” asked Wolfgang, as he walked with his mother along the beach.
Virginia laughed. “There are a LOT of things I don’t know.”
“Like what?” the boy asked.
“Well, I don’t know what I don’t know. I just don’t know it,” his mother responded.
“Hmm…” he thought aloud. “I’m going to figure out what you don’t know.”
He looked at the tall grasses growing along the dune. “Okay,” he said decidedly, “why is grass green?”
She laughed again. “I actually DO know the answer to that one. Plants get their green color from something called chlorophyll.”
She started to explain more, but Wolfie cut her off.
“That one was too easy,” he said. “How about this? Why do dragonflies zig-zag when they fly?”
“They’re catching bugs,” she answered.
“Where do seagulls sleep?”
“You’ve seen them,” she answered. “They group together in an open place and take turns watching for predators.”
“Where does sand come from?”
“Broken up rocks, shells, and dirt pounded by and carried here by the surf.”
“How far away is the sun?”
“93 million miles.”
“How do you know stuff like that?”
“Grammie and Grampa encouraged us all to read. Your uncles and I also liked trying to stump each other with trivia. I like to learn.”
As they approached the lighthouse, Wolfie asked, “Why does that lighthouse not have a top on it like other lighthouses?”
“You know,” she replied, “I don’t know. Let’s go ask someone and find out.”
Exactly 250 words for this week’s Unicorn Challenge.
The challenge is so simple: write no more than 250 words and base it on the photo.
Easy, right? Unless, of course, you have no idea what the picture is. I tried and tried to figure out what this is.
Can you tell me? Is it a lighthouse? Where’s the lens?
This is the lens in the one lighthouse (Ponce Inlet Lighthouse) I walked to the top of with my grandsons on vacation this past February.
And this is the lighthouse.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
This is awesome, Sally. Mom Virginia makes learning fun. Bet Wolfgang will hit the books with enthusiasm now. Wow. Beautiful job in the required word count. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.
i really enjoyed that 😁💜
You taught me a thing or two, too 😊👏
don’t tell you-know-who(s), but as I was trying to find my story, I wondered the same thing! … about
…Readers should be grateful I didn’t succumb to the impulse to write-post my first idea*
Really liked your characters. I grew up in a family of readers. Still remember how Friday, late afternoons was when my mother took us to the library. Fun
*oh man! it was a mashup between Leonardo DaVinci and a MC/Narrator (in Bob Newhart ‘implied dialogue’)… and the Medici! Totally gives credence to the old chestnut: If the only one applauding a performance is the writer’s inner voice… keep revising!
I enjoyed that, Sally – enormously.
A dialogue that’s so alive, it jumps off the page and makes the reader smile.
And, to boot, a grown up who admits they don’t know – brilliant story!
But where was the photo taken?
I’m responsible for this one, Sally.
https://www.livebreathescotland.com/girvan/
Thank you! Now I can research —
Nice one Sally! I wondered about that too – not about plants, dragonflies, sand and stuff, I knew that already of course, but the topless lighthouse!
Really, Keith, topless mermaids and topless lighthouses in the same week!
What a great story with a lesson in life long learning! Sparky and I love to read and have passed that along to both sons!
It seems short for a lighthouse.
I agree. I wonder if it’s a signal tower or something like that
It doesn’t need to be very high, Kristin, the sea (actually the Firth of Clyde) is quite flat here!
Inspirational story, Sally, and an object lesson on how to communicate with a child.
Love it.
PS The lighthouse in the prompt photo is very much not the one in my story!
A delightful conversation. I love the dynamics between the two characters, and how you’ve smoothly incorporated just enough backstory to give readers a sense of the mother’s life pre-Wolfie. Beautifully done.