or: How to Cook on Hot Days

I was walking through the screen door when I heard Barney say to Grandma, “Can I give you something?”

“What? What is it?”

“Here, this is for you,” he said, holding up a toonie*.

“What do you want to give me that for?” she asked.

“I don’t know, I just want to give you it.”

“Oh! Well sure, you can give me that.” He handed her the gold-centred silver coin. “Thank you! That’s nice! You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

Sweet.
The two of them are almost exactly the same height, facing off in front of her china cabinet.

*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*

“I guess he can stay overnight, but I told him he’ll have to come to church tomorrow,” Grandma said, half-serious.

“Did you bring clean clothes like I told you?” I asked Barney.

His eyes got wide, because he had forgotten.

“Oh, he’s good like that.”

“No he isn’t,” I said. “His clothes are dirty. He can’t go to church like that.”

“Oh he’s fine!”

“Grandma, he is not fine! His shirt is dirty and so are his pants. He’s not going to church looking like that.”

“They’re clean enough,” she said again.

“They’re filthy, and he wouldn’t even be wearing them now if I’d noticed before. If you take him to church like that, I will be embarrassed. Don’t do it."

She didn't do it. She went to church alone, as always, and afterward the two of them walked out to the café on the highway for lunch. He was wearing his rubber boots, and somehow managed to trip while walking, scraping his knee.

When we picked him up yesterday and they were telling us about the fall, Farmbeau teased "Are you sure Grandma didn't push you? You can tell us, you know." Barney didn't like that at all; took it seriously. He loves his little grandma.

xoxoxoetc
Kate

*Canadian $2 coin