You Gotta Cock It

September 21, 2010, 7:27 am
Filed under: Uncategorized

Saturday was Isabelle’s 11th birthday. And we have a tradition here at Chez Star: if your birthday doesn’t drag out for at least a week, you’re not really having a Star birthday. This is partly because I am horrible at organizing birthday stuff, partly because gifts from out of town relatives usually trickle in for weeks after the special day, and (just maybe) partly due to the fact that I am, underneath it all, supremely lazy.

The family made the trek down the hill to the dollar theater to see “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and then came home for The Big Fry. Home made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and bread. Then presents. And then we all pretty much passed out.

Notice the lack of dessert.

We were supposed to go to Cold Stone. But we were all too full.

So that’s what we had for dinner on Sunday. Because I’m a good parent. Ice cream for dinner. Yeah. And while we were sitting outside enjoying our frozen confections, the following conversation took place.

Davie-O: So, I think it’s about time to build that trebuchet we’re always talking about.

Cutter: Cool! How about mounting it in the back of the truck?

D: Well, I was thinking if it were about 12 feet, and we had ….blah,blah, a bunch of schematic stuff, blah, blah, blah.

C: Wow! So that means it would be blah, blah, a bunch of math, blah, blah blah.

Mom: I have a question. How do you get the trebuchet to let go of whatever it is you’re flinging?

D: Well, first, you have to cock it. Have you ever cocked one?

Mom: (totally straight face) No. I’ve never cocked a trebuchet. I’ve cocked lots of other things, in lots of other places, but I’ve never cocked a trebuchet.

D: I…..well……(almost losing it)….I…….(looking at Cutter)…I can’t talk to your mom about this.

We used to say that all our horribly inappropriate innuendo comments would eventually send our children running, screaming, from their 7th grade history class when it dawned on them what we were actually talking about. Cutter’s in 7th grade and taking history, so I’m guessing after this weekend it won’t be long now.