A True Story Retold
It started innocently enough - toast for breakfast. Rachel smiled a lot, as young children do, especially when they do not have to go to school yet, and can spend the day with Grandma. Rachel loved toast for breakfast, and we suspect she still does, as much as Grandpa loved smearing lots of butter on her toast. She did not eat the crust though, but nibbled to the edge of the crust so all that would remain of each of the squares of toast would be an almost perfect ninety degree angle outline.
Grandpa made her two pieces of toast smeared with gobs of butter; these she quickly ate. "Are you still hungry, Rachel?"
"Yes, Grandpa." she replied.
"Would you like more toast?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
So, Grandpa made two more pieces of toast, and these were devoured in the same fashion. Rachel had eaten four pieces of toast. "Hmmm" mused Grandpa, "how many pieces of toast can she eat? Are you still hungry, Rachel?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
"Would you like more toast?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
Grandpa loved his grandchildren and would do anything for them, so two more slices of bread went into the toaster, and a fresh stick of butter onto the butter dish. Rachel ate these as well - six pieces of toast, not a world record, but pretty good for someone as young as she.
It is difficult to say what possessed Grandpa that morning, or nearly any morning for that matter. Six pieces of toast should have been enough. "Rachel, would you want more toast?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
Two more slices of bread went into the toaster; two more pieces of toast with butter cut into squares on the plate.
Rachel had just finished the number seven piece of toast when Grandma walked into the kitchen. There are those moments when time seems to slow down to an impossibly slow rate, and even slices of toast may suspend in the air. Grandma looked at the pile of toast crusts on Rachel's plate. (Grandpa thought 'note to self - next time get rid of the evidence'), and then looked at Grandpa. "Just what do you think you are doing? How much toast has she had?"
Grandpa smiled, and tried to cover his tracks. "Only seven, she was still hungry ..."
"Seven?! She has had enough!."
"But ..." and in this situation there weren't enough 'buts' in Cleveland to cover this, "she didn't eat the crust, and I wanted to see how much toast she could eat." The truth came out.
Rachel got up from the table and found her bouncy ball, and bounced from one end of the house to the other, her long hair flowing behind her. She stopped next to Grandma, looked up and said "Grandma, when's lunch?"
Grandpa looked at Grandma and smiled.
