PAINTING

ME:  Hello!  Grammy?  Julius?  I’m back!

JULIUS:  Mom!

ME:  How’s my little boy?  Did you miss me?  What did you do while I was gone?

JULIUS:  I went to the fruit stand, all by myself.  And Grammy gave me a slingshot and I shot a bird right out of the sky!  And I made a new friend.  His name is Typhus.

ME:  Typhus?  Isn’t that a disease?

GRAMMY:  Oh, let it go, Barbara.  Kids can’t help what their parents name them.

ME:  Who is Typhus?

GRAMMY:  Just a neighborhood kid.

JULIUS:  He’s really cool, Mom.  He likes art, just like me.  And he’s a really good painter, even if the police say he isn’t.

 ME: The police?  Grammy, why is he mentioning the police?

GRAMMY:  Oh, the boy just had a little misadventure, is all.  But it’s all done and over with now.

ME:  What kind of misadventure?

JULIUS:  We painted a train, Mom!  You should see it!

ME:  Grammy!

GRAMMY:  Hey, he told me he wanted to paint a train.  I thought he wanted to paint a picture of one. How was I supposed to know he meant the actual damn thing? 

Photo:  Banksy