she sat down away from the family
and played quietly on top of a large foam rubber interlocking puzzle whose colourfully
pieces were made to celebrated individually the letters of the alphabet and
numbers nine to zero
she reminded him of himself when
he was a boy part of albeit separate of
the family
very comfortable at its edges
away from the turning conversations and maelstrom
comfortable in the company of
himself alone
he quietly walked over to her and
waited for her to acknowledge his presence
when she finally looked up he
said Whacha up to little girl
Playing
Youre playing very nicely It appears youre having great fun
I am
Good for you
Thank you Did you want to play with me
Id love to play with you
Would you tell me a story Grampa
A story Aw sweet thing I dont know if I have any good stories
But you do have a story Grampa
If I were relegated to having a
story I do
Well then Grampa Tell me a story
Okay A little story I cant get out of my head
since I heard it
Will it get out of my head
Eventually all stories get out of
our heads We forget or they dont fascinate us as they once did More often theyre pushed out by new stories
Otherwise our heads would grow
real big Swollen by too many stories and
other things we have to remember brushing our teeth saying please and thank you saying excuse me when we belch or fart
she squealed with laughter
kids find body sounds hilarious and none more hilarious than a
fart
they come undone at the seams
the rest of the family looked
over and he minimised their attention I
told her a funny joke
they laughed at what they did not
know and returned to their conversations no wiser
Were playing right
Yes Grampa Were playing
Good Thats a joke between us he knew shed forget about it inside of five
minutes
Okay The little story I cant get out of my head
Yes
A little boy went to the zoo with
his parents
His parents didnt mind him
They didnt watch over him
They didnt hold his hand
They didnt stop him when he ran
away from them
she had a concerned look on her
face He was just a little boy right
Yes He is just a bit older than you honey
Why didnt they watch him
I dont know love You would think since they were in a public
place like when you go to a park share it with others
You want to be respectful of other people
You want to be respectful of other people
You can imagine a little boy
running around could get underfoot and be hurt or possibly trip someone and
hurt them instead
Im not saying that he shouldnt
have been excited to see all the animals But can you imagine if everyone
who went to the zoo ran about and didnt care for anyone other than
themselves Were selfish Would you want to go somewhere where everyone
around you was selfish or got in your way or tripped you
I might get hurt
You might
You might very well
she nodded
But because youre young
because the responsibility falls to your parents and itd fall to the little boys parents. . .
. . . Yes My mommy and daddy watch me They would make me stay with them
Likely they would have you hold
their hand
Or my sisters hand
Or your sisters hand
Yes
And they would watch you because
they love you and it is their job to keep you as safe as they can And they would teach you what is right and
wrong acceptable or not so that when you are older you have learned what you
might do . . . I say might because when
you are older what you do is what youll choose to do and making that choice that decision it is your decision and you are accountable
for that decision -- if you make a bad choice bad things can
happen to you -- if you make a good choice good things can
happen to you
I think you understand
Do you
Do you
Yes I do
Good
Well . . . the story goes on The little boy who went to the zoo with his
parents Somehow he ended up falling down
into a gorillas pen or cage or enclosure with a huge silverback gorilla in it
Did his mommy and daddy jump into
the cage after him to save him
No
No her eyes grew large Why not
I dont know
I dont know if they were even there or if they were too frightened by the gorilla
I dont know if they were even there or if they were too frightened by the gorilla
Did they get help
Help
I suppose you can say help arrived
Is the little boy okay
Hes banged up from the fall into
the enclosure But hes okay
Thats good
Yes That is good
So what is the story Grampa
The story is the little boy is
okay The little boys parents thank god that their little boy is safe
But because he fell into the
gorilla cage the help that arrived that help saw fit that it was
okay to shoot and kill the gorilla
she fixed him with incredulous
bluer eyes than he had ever seen before
What
A rhetorical what huh
Rhe . . . Re . . . .
Re I cant say that I dont know
what that means
Rhe tor
i cal Try it
Rhe
Rhe
Tor
Tor
E
E
Cal
Cal
Rhe tor
e cal
Rhe tor
e cal
Rhetorical
Rhetorical
Good girl
When you said What
to the gorilla being shot and killed
I assumed your What was rhetorical Because you didnt need more information or did you ask for any
specific information by asking What
I think
you understand what it means for a gorilla to be shot and killed The gorilla is not alive anymore
Yes But why did they shoot the
gorilla
To save the boy
Was the gorilla hurting the
little boy a lot
No The help who came thought the gorilla might
But the gorilla did not hurt the
little boy
No The gorilla did not
I dont understand
I dont either
Sometimes as a big person as a
grownup a mommy or daddy Sometimes we dont understand either
That is not a very good story
No If you remember I told you it was a story I
couldnt stop thinking about
I said I didnt have any good
stories
It makes me sad
It makes me very sad But remember
I also said that stories dont stay in our heads or our heads will grow
real big
I dont want to have a big head
I dont think you will
I dont have a big head
Your heads bigger than mine
Grampa
Dont be a Wisenheimer Im grown up
now Youre just a little girl
Yes Im a little girl
A beautiful little girl
I am still sad about the gorilla
Thats okay to be sad about the
gorilla I am too honey I am too
Sometimes things in life are not
fair or make any sense
All we can hope is that the
things that happen to us surround us are as fair as we can make them And try to keep them making sense by making
good decisions
I like you being by me
I love being by you Do we make sense
I think we do
Good Isnt that a good way to start
Yes
She got up from where she sat
across from him on the rubber foam pad and gave him a big hug and a kiss
I love you Grampa
I love you too Babyblue
0636, Twosday, 31 5.
16
with all due
respect Fight Club His Name is Harambe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCi_PIz5ekU
postscript: The
boys mother said “God protected my child until the authorities were able to get
to him.” Its a good thing I didnt become a journalist I flirted
with the idea in college Had I my followup question would be: Since you
elicited God one could imply you believe He has a plan If Gods plan didnt
protect your son and Harambe tore him to pieces like a paper doll would you be
as magnanimous about Him then
