Tag: conversation

fiction

Homonyms

Sally9 Comments

“What makes shadows?”

“The sun is blocked by something and that makes the shadow.”

“There’s no sun inside and there are still shadows.”

“Okay — light is blocked, and that makes shadows.”

[quiet thinking]

“Light is a funny word, isn’t it, Mom?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Light is like a light bulb and shines, but it’s also like something that’s not heavy.”

“Those are called homonyms. Like ‘I’ [points to herself] and ‘eye’ [points to her eye].”

“But those aren’t spelled the same.”

“No, homonyms just have to sound the same. Sometimes they are spelled exactly the same – like a bat that flies and a bat that’s used in baseball. They are two very different things.”

[laughing] “It would be funny if I played baseball with a bat bat.” [flaps arms] “I found one yesterday.”

“Don’t touch bats if you find one.”

“Not even a baseball bat?”

“What kind of bat did you find?”

“A bat bat.”

“Don’t touch them. They carry rabies.”

“What’s rabies?”

“It’s a really bad sickness.”

“Like the flu?”

“Kind of, but –“

“WAIT! That’s a homo-thing! ‘Flu’ – like when I was sick, and ‘flew’ like the bat did.”

“The bat flew away? Did you touch it?”

“Dickie did.”

“Dickie?”

“The new kid. Richard. He wants to be called Dick.”

“I need to talk to his par–“

“WAIT! That’s a homo-thing, too! Dick, like his name and dick, like Mr. Dinkleheimer sometimes says about his –“

“Enough. Let’s talk about the shadows some more, okay?”

My contribution to this week’s Unicorn Challenge. The Unicorn Challenge is no more that 250 words based on the photo prompt.

I rather strayed from that photo prompt and tried to make my way back to it, but dog-gone these kids!

Of course, I didn’t get homonym-homophone right either. Don’t judge me.

fiction

Spawning

Sally12 Comments

“Do fish have mothers and fathers?”

“Yes. All animals have both mothers and fathers.”

“Dogs?”

“Yes.”

“Elephants?”

“Yes.”

“Frogs?”

“Yes.”

“Caterpillars?”

“Yes, but a caterpillar is a stage in the life of a butterfly.”

“Butterflies aren’t born from other butterflies?”

“Not exactly. The mother lays eggs and a little tiny caterpillar hatches out.”

“Oh, yeah! The Very Hungry Caterpillar! You used to read that book to me!”

“Right! Remember the caterpillar eats and eats and eats, then makes a chrysallis. Then a butterfly hatches out of the chrysallis.”

“How does that happen?”

“Magic.”

“Where’s the dad?”

“What do you mean?”

“The mother lays eggs, but where’s the dad?”

“Hmmm…. well…. I think the mother butterfly and the father butterfly meet each other before the eggs are laid.”

“Like a date?”

“Kind of.”

“Does he get to meet them after they become butterflies?”

“Caterpillars and butterflies don’t meet their parents.”

“That’s sad.”

“Yes, life is sometimes sad.”

“How about fish? Do fish get to meet their fathers?” [pointing to a sign on a food truck that say “The Codfather.”]

“I don’t know.”

“Do fish have a caterpillar stage?”

“Fish hatch out of eggs.”

“As fish?”

“As larva. I suppose kind of like swimming caterpillars.”

“What about the mother and father. Do they visit each other first?”

“It’s called spawning. The mother lays a bunch of eggs that the dad visits.”

“That’s weird. Does the mother fish ever meet the dad?”

“You’re wearing me out.”

“What about people? How does that work?”

This is my response to this week’s Unicorn Challenge. The Unicorn Challenge is simple — no more than 250 words based on the photo prompt.

Here you get to eavesdrop on another mother-son conversation.