On the rainy way to school this morning:
***
“Mom, can I have an umbrella?”
“I don’t think there’s one in the car. Where’s yours?”
“Well, um . . . It broke.”
“Oh? How?”
“Um . . . I was playing with it on the playground at school?”
“And . . . ?
“And the umbrella part came off the stick part.”
“Maybe we can fix it.”
“The stick part is bent a little.”
“We might be able to unbend it. Just remind me after we get home tonight and I’ll take a look.”
“Well, um . . . I only have the stick part.”
“Where’s the umbrella part?”
“I don’t know! I put both pieces in my backpack, but there’s only the stick now. And I’ve looked, Mom.”
“Maybe we should look again.”
“I guess. . . Or you could buy me a new one.”
“Or you could buy yourself a new one with your birthday money?”
“Mo-om!”
“C’mon, kid. You have almost twenty-five dollars left, right?”
” . . . ”
“Right, Janie?”
“Well, um . . . Oh, look! It stopped raining! “
Earful of Cider 