When I was young, my grandfather would play the “Pull my finger” game lots. My brother and I loved it, much to the disproval of my grandmother. Once, in the bank, I yanked her finger firmly, and loudy proclaimed “What’s wrong grandma, can’t you fart no more?” I wish I could remember the expression on her face!
I was on the bus last fall, going downtown. A little boy and his father got on a few stops after me, and sat quite near me. The boy, about 5 years old, was in the “What? Where? Why? Who?” stage of childhood. The father was very patiently answering the boy’s questions in a quiet voice so that the kid would, in turn, speak quietly. (I think they had this “public voice-private voice” training going on.)
So into the bus stepped this lady. She was in her 50’s, overweight, red in the face from having to run to catch the bus. She shuffled down the aisle with her two large shopping bags and sat down in front of the little boy and his dad, put on her headphones and started playing music from her portable CD-player. The bus started up again and for a while, everything was quiet.
Then, I heard the little boy, using the loudest stage whisper, asking his dad, “Dad, why is that lady so fat?” :shocked: Of course, the father tried to hush the kid up, whispering something about not commenting on strangers in public. Obviously, the kid thought his dad just hadn’t heard the question, so he asked in a louder voice “Daddy, why is that lady so fat?” The father once again tried to quiet him down, but Junior evidently wasn’t going to let this one rest until he got the answers he wanted. "Daddy, look! Look, Daddy, the woman in front of us! She’s really fat! Daddy look! Isn’t she fat? Why is she fat, Daddy?"
They got off at the very next stop. I really hope the lady had the music turned up high enough to miss the comments.