Conversations

Conversations

“James, come upstairs!” Dad’s voice called.

Five-year-old James ran up, but didn’t find Dad in his bedroom “Where are ya?”

“In your room,” Dad called.

James hurried over, “What’s up?”

“Your room looks like a tornado hit it…”

James laughed, “You’re funny Dad! Tornados don’t come in the house! Do they?”

“No, I just meant, what do you think you should do?”

“Like if it snuck in? That is so cool! How do you think it woulda got in, they’re bigger than windows aren’t they? Maybe they have magic powers and they can scrunch down really small. But I didn’t have my window open… Maybe they can drive right through window glass without breaking it!! That would be so cool! We can’t do that… can we? I know we can walk through air without breaking it, but a house is stronger than air, I think. What do you think Dad?”

Dad was suddenly having a mental issue. He was supposed to be telling James to clean his room, but this conversation was just too cool! Dad suddenly felt a twinge of his own thoughts when he was young. He remembered one conversation he had with his dad, about footprints on the kitchen floor. He had thought they were aliens! Dad just said muddy shoes, and made him clean them up. After that he didn’t share as many thoughts with his father. How could he remember it so clearly…

“Well,” he started, “Maybe it’s the outer space people. Tornados don’t seem to wear shoes… We don’t know what outer space people do yet. We’ve never really met one yet. We don’t even know what language they speak…

Dad spent the afternoon sitting on the floor with James, talking. They both remembered that talk for the rest of their lives.