"Where it stops, nobody knows..."

Tonight, returning from the solemn pirate-themed birthday party which they attended, the boys brought back all kinds of party favors (otherwise known as "appeasement" for those unfortunate enough not to be the birthday-boy). Daniel left his high-tech plastic telescope in the car, and he asked me to run out to get it. Since Amy was the one to take them to the party, I had no clue as to this telescope's likely coordinates, so I asked him where, in the car, I might find it:

"It's on the chair without the wheel."

"It's on what?"

"It's on the chair without the spinning wheel."

For whatever reason, I had no idea what the lad meant by "the chair without the spinning wheel," but I decided to "package" this little piece of data and try to analyze it only later; I figured, "Who knows - maybe it will make sense when I actually get to the car." I think I presumed there was probably some pinwheel from the day's booty, and if I could find that, I could find the telescope. However, there was no pinwheel, or pinwheel-like artifact, so I actually had to think for a moment, but suddenly it came to me: the "spinning wheel" in the car must be in the front, on the driver's side, hence "the chair without the spinning wheel" would be the front passenger seat. And of course I was right.

I understand where the "chair" category comes from: Daniel's world doesn't have furniture as utilitarian as a mere "seat": he calls the love seat in the family room the "love chair." [In contrast to one of my more head-bangery friends from my pre-responsibility days, who referred to the love seat in his bachelor pad as "the hate seat". I can hardly bring myself to call a post-modern irrationally-undersized couch a "love seat" even now, so I can understand why my friend or Daniel might look for a variation.]

But the "spinning wheel"? It brings to mind Vanna White in between vowel-purchases, or "What Comes Up Must Come Down..." This might mean that maybe Amy and/or I might need to drive a little less impulsively; I know when I'm driving, sometimes "the wheel" tends to spin a bit unexpectedly. In New England, that's the norm, but it's not exactly setting a good example for the Next Generation.

(April 2, 2011)