When our
children were little, we moved into a house in the middle of a rural village. Everyone
going and coming had to pass by our house. There was not much traffic in the
winter, but summertime brought a whole host of summer dwellers from the city.
They were not always used to countryside interaction.
One summer
day we were all working in the yard when three teenage boys we had never seen
before walked past our house. They were carrying fishing gear.
One of our
daughters, aged four, hurried to the edge of our lot to talk to them.
"Have
you been fishing? Did you catch anything? Where did you fish? On the river? Or
are you going fishing on the lake? Where do you live? Do you have a summer
house here? Do you have sisters? Where are your mom and dad? Do you have a cat?
Or a dog?"
Since the
boys did not stop but continued walking, so did our daughter. The boys were
clearly embarrassed, and walked on in silence.
When the
girl had reached the corner of our lot, she stopped and watched the boys walk
on. Then she turned to us and said:
"They
were going fishing and they were deaf!"
