Semantics

Semantics

“We have to leave! Hurry up!”

“I can’t find my bag.”

“What bag? I’m bringing you to Angela’s birthday party.”

“My present for Angela’s in the bag.”

“No, it’s right here,” Mom picked up a brightly wrapped box with a big bow on it.

“That’s what you bought for me to give her. I have another present of my own.”

“Jeff, what are you talking about? We picked out this shirt together.”

“You picked it out, I just said ‘fine’ to get us out of the store.”

“Oh... Well what is it you decided to give her?”

“A mouse! I caught a mouse and I’m giving it to her for a pet!”

“You caught a mouse in our house?!”

“No, in the garage.”

“We have mice in the garage?”

“Yeah. They’re so cute! I feed them left over breakfast cereal. They love it!”

“We’ve never had mice in our garage!”

“Well... I kind of borrowed one from my friend Archie.”

“Borrowed?”

“Well, he wouldn’t give me one so I just borrowed it. I’m gonna give it back as soon as it has babies!”

“You stole a mouse from Archie?!”

“Borrowed, borrowed! I just borrowed it!”

“You stole it. I know you stole it, if the person doesn’t know about it, it’s called stealing...”

“Oh...”

“And then why did you decide to give it to Angela for her birthday?”

“Oh I’m not giving her Archie’s mouse. I’m giving her another mouse that got into Archie’s mouse’s cage! A spare mouse!”

“And this mouse is in a bag in our house...?”

“Well, yeah, I didn’t want to forget it...”

A scream came from down the hall.

“I think your sister just found it. We need to talk...”

“No party today?”

“No party for many, many days...” said Mom, starting down the hall.