Pagina

More stories are beginning to be told as I work gently to free them from the memories of other parts of our family. We will have many more of them before this is finished. They sometimes need to be wiggled like a loose tooth, but eventually they pop out and leave us all with just one more thing to smile about as we go about our days.

Aunt Linda has worked at the same place since she left her high school job at Ponderosa restaurant, so after nearly 40 years she has seen many changes. One of the most disturbing to her was the remodeling of the restrooms about 15 years ago. It was a nice remodel, but the lovely, shiny and very expensive new floors had an unexpected fault: they reflected upward far too efficiently. Ladies in the offices complained that they could see the person in the next stall of the restroom, leaving everyone feeling as privacy was a thing of the past.

Aunt Linda was complaining to Uncle Tom about the flooring when he picked her up from work one day.

Five-year-old Michael was in the back seat listening, when he asked, “Do you see their PENISES?”

Having just pulled into the grocery store, Aunt Linda told Uncle Tom to explain things to Michael as she left the car to go shopping. While she was gone, Uncle Tom explained to Michael that his mommy uses the ladies’ room, and that ladies don’t have penises. Ladies have vaginas. This was new information to Michael and he pondered it in silence until Aunt Linda returned to the car and the groceries had been loaded. He pondered in a bit more silence as Uncle Tom began driving home.

Michael surprised his parents when from the back seat they heard him say to himself, “I gotta see me one of those paginas.”

In time, little Michael.