A Wit for All Ages

The other day, as I was picking up Ruthie, our fox terrier, from the veterinarian's office, along with Ian and Madeleine, I said, as I pulled into the parking spot, "Our mission is to retrieve Ruthie."

At that point, Ian made an authentically clever joke, by any measure:

"Isn't the dog the one that's supposed to retrieve?"

Then he returned to Age Eight, before I had time to panic that he was getting too precocious: "I don't know if you know this, but I was kidding."

(December 24, 2011)