Smart Kid

There's a Shel Silverstein poem called "Smart" about a kid who trades his crisp one dollar bill up for 5 shiny pennies. He's so proud because five is more than one. I'd reprint it here without permission, but a family member whom I won't mention by name (my oldest sister) would go ape shit about copyright infringement blah blah blah. I won't mention at all that I downloaded the mp3 of the same poem and if you've never listened to Shel Silverstein read, you must...err...do something about that. The CDs are out there. This one is on "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

Uncle Shel would be so proud of Franklin today. His preschool teacher sent him home with a prize--a loaf of bread sized black & white plastic piggy bank. He was so enamored with his new acquisition that he wanted to play with it immediately in spite of his parents' suggestions that he be a nice big brother and give it to his sister. He's become a lot more concious of his possessions since starting school and the concept of MINE is a big one for any kid his age, according to experts, I'll say.

He was big enough, however, to allow Gretchen to play with his...old...piggy bank. A misnamed plastic sculpture of a cow standing on two legs. Gretchen was happy to have something to hold. Frank ran round and round the living room shaking his new toy with NT$5 inside, making an ungodly racket. Gretchen's new piggy bank is rather unwieldly, as it contains Frank's allowance money from the past 12 months.

Both children appear quite happy with their new situation in life, though I think that one of them needs some conceptual counselling.

Speaking of which, we had the "starving children in Africa" talk just now. Frank had returned his bowl to the sink with about a dozen grains of rice left in the bottom. This is not done here for obvious reasons, and also for the supertitious reason that if you leave rice in your bowl, your bride will have horrendous acne on her wedding day.The starving children in Africa story has taken on a new 21st century angle with videos from YouTube.

I think my "starving child in Africa" lecture may have been about the kids in China, or I may be remebering the line from the John Lennon song "Nobody Told Me." Also available for illegal dowload. Hi Sis!