Questions

Questions

“Dad, what time is Mom getting home?” asked five-year-old Tommy.

Dad looked up from his work, “Soon...” he turned back to his desk.

“Dad what time is it now?” Tommy asked.

Dad looked up again, “About eleven...”

Minutes later, “Dad what time is Mom getting home?”

Dad looked up again, this time irritated. “I told you two minutes ago. You have to stop interrupting me I need to get my work done!”

“I just forgot what you said...”

“I said soon, soon! I’ve told you a million times, soon!

“I don’t know what number soon is. Is it bigger or smaller than eleven?”

Dad turned and looked at Tommy. “Soon isn’t a number.”

“Oh... that’s why it’s different a lot?”

“Different?”

“Yeah. Sometimes someone says soon and it happens in just a little while, and other times someone says soon and it takes a long time. I thought it was just a kind of tricky time, but I could never figure out where it was in the other numbers.

“It isn’t a number. That’s why nobody ever says soon minutes.”

“Huh. Well right now what does soon mean in minutes?”

Suddenly Dad noticed his wife’s car pull up the driveway. “This time it means about one or two minutes,” he said.

“Wow!” Tommy said, turning back to his toys.

Mom walked in. “How did you guys do while I was gone?” she said.

“Great!” Tommy said, running for a hug.

“And you?” she said to her husband.

“How do you do it?” he said, surprising her.

“Do what?” she asked.

“Answer all his crazy questions and get anything done!”

“I had a lot of practice,” she said, laughing.

“When?” he asked surprised.

“When I met you!” she said, laughing her way out of the room.