From The Past: May 31, 2008

I have two stories to tell you involving my two nieces, Jesse and Sydnee.

The first one involves Sydnee. I was not there, so I will relay it as best I can.

My parent’s had taken Jesse & Sydnee to get pizza at Donotos. Since the weather was so nice, they decided to sit at an outdoor table and eat their dinner. As they waited on their food, Sydnee ran around, picked something up and brought it back to the table. She sat it down right in front of my mom. My mom asked her, “Do you know what that is?”

Sydnee said, “It’s a chicken.”

Mom told her, “No Sydnee, that’s a dead bird.”

Sydnee said, “No, it’s a rubber chicken! It’s a rubber chicken!”

When mom looked down at what Sydnee had laid before her, she saw a goopy, unborn, featherless bird. She said the waitress from Donotos came out and offered to clean the table. Upon her return, she used a cloth rag to get the remains. I’m not saying anything else. I just hope she threw the rag away!

It turns out they were sitting at a table under the Donotos sign. A bird had made a nest in one of the letters and the baby had fallen out and died.

I talked to Sydnee today about the incident and she said she didn’t know it was real. She said she thought it was rubber.

I can’t imagine being a child and wanting to pick something up that looked dead – plastic or not. It didn’t seem to bother her or have any lasting effects.

The second story involves Jesse.

(You know, I have to document these things or we won’t remember them years from now.)

Jesse was playing in my front yard today. All of a sudden she ran up to her mother and said, “Mommy! Look at these pretty rocks!”

Jennifer, my sister, looked at me and said, “Is that what I think it is; a cat turd?”

“Let me see.” I said.

Upon gazing at the pretty rocks, I said, “Yes. Those are two dried up cat turds.”

We made Jesse throw them away and immediately wash her hands.

Do you think the kids will be too afraid now to pick up anything? Probably not.