Wednesday, January 13, 2010

On Pirates, Book Reviews, and Intimate Irony

OOH! Kate is publishing her book about PIRATES! I'll get it for Graham who, at 12 years of age is about one skipped brushing away from transforming his hair into one large, seaworthy dread...

My heart stopped, and I looked away before I was spotted, before my attention brought any sort of self-consciousness to the scene upon which I had stumbled. I had gotten this book for Graham. He had said, upon receiving it 'Oh, cool,' and redirected what small part of his attention he had used to respond to me back to whatever he was doing- much more interesting. Obviously. But here he was, sitting at the kitchen table with his usual shades-of-tan dinner and...wait, what's that in his hand? OH NO! It's the DREAD CREW! There he sat, happily smacking his lips, eating his pizza with ketchup or chicken nuggets or similarly kid-approved meal item, patently unaware of anything but the grubby, swarthy, gnarly, brazen adventures unfolding on the projector-screen just behind his eyes.

Look Mom, he's reading the pirate book!

I know, he hasn't put it down. He loves it.

(Beams with victory and delight)


++++++

Hey Alex!

Hey Graham.

Do you know what my favorite part of "The Pirates of the Backwoods" was?

(Oh no, he's already finished it, and I'm not even half way done! He's going to spoil it! Make him STOP!!)
Errr...what? (holds breath)

The "honey lessons." Like, "the undiscovered joys of occasional bathing." Huh huh huh.

(Whew! Already read that part. The irony, however, is not lost on me. Maybe you could take a lesson or two from Joe yourself; Eh, Mr My-Hair-Only-Looks-Cool-If-It-Hasn't-Been-Washed-For-A-Week? Undiscovered joys of bathing indeed!)

1 comment:

  1. Alex this has me beaming. What a treat! I had written you an email asking for permission to use the photos, but would you mind if I reprint some or all of your post, too, with a link? Such a joy. Thank you so much for sharing this. :)

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