Orphans

My kids fight about everything lately.  Ironically, I have had a week off from teaching and so I've been able to give them more attention.  I really wonder sometimes if that is what they need.  So I hadn't heard any fighting for a while, and I went to check on them.  There they were, all four of them, playing nicely together, each one dressed up in various star wars or cowboy costume snatches.    So I asked what they were playing.  "Orphans."  Charlie had a bag of cereal.  I asked him where he got food if he had no parents.  "From the trash cans," Jane answered.  Seeing no need for further interference, I went downstairs, to hear someone call down the hallway, "Goodbye, kind madam."  I think they might appreciate me more as a kindly neighbor than as a mom.