Message In A Bottle... Also In Water

Last night, I looked across the boys' bedroom, as I was getting them ready for bed, to see Daniel lovingly stuffing a piece of his own work - some writing and drawing on a rolled-up/crinkled-up sheet of paper, in green, possibly-indelible ink, into his new empty wine bottle - that most prized of toys. I still don't know what it was, or what he was doing, but it turned out, in short order, that he wanted to take the note out of the bottle again. I tried fishing it out; Daniel pointed out that I was only pushing it in farther. Then he proceeded to do exactly the same thing.

Finally Ian, the scientist, proposed putting water into the bottle to break up the paper. Eventually it would disintegrate, and he could just pour it out and start afresh. I warned Daniel that this would destroy whatever the paper was, and asked whether he was alright with that prospect...

"I'm sure I care about the bottle much more than any old paper. Because you can get papers anywhere; you can't get bottles anywhere."

So Ian filled the bottle up with water, and as Daniel wanted to bring it back into his room. I said we didn't have time to complete the job, and told him to leave the bottle in the bathroom.

"Wait - Daddy! I don't want to leave it here! I want to bring it in here so I can watch it. In fact, it might even glow in the dark!"

Ian, as usual, was the voice of sober disabuse: "Don't get your hopes up too high."

(Daniel, December 18, 2011)