When we went on vacation awhile back, I left out of here on a Tuesday morning with Sylvie and LB. (BB did not come on vacation this year because he had a big baseball game. They lost.) About 3 hours into the trip, I told Sylvie that she was finally old enough to go snipe hunting.
In this case, the “snipe” was a fictional, small, furry mammal. A bit smaller than a guinea pig. A good pet if you can find one!
Sylvie got very excited. I told her if she caught one that I’d buy her a cage for it. She spent the next 5 days talking about it. She told everyone that we met that she was going snipe hunting. And everyone said things like, “Oh, wow! I hear the snipes are running thick in Oklahoma this year!” She wondered aloud what she would name her pet snipe. She hoped that it would have purple fur but any color would do.
The day of the hunt, it occurred to me that she might not take the joke as well as we’d hoped. The original snipe hunt calls for leaving your victim in the dark to be scared shitless. I nixed that part from the hunt. I tried to talk Sweety into letting me buy a guinea pig, shaving it and tossing it in the road and telling her it was a snipe. He nixed that part of the hunt.
Before you watch the video, let me mention that my default emotion is manic laughter. I wasn’t really laughing like a hyena at a little heartbroken girl.
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As soon as Sweety turned the camera off, Sylvie and I took off to the bedroom where I told her about my snipe hunt and the boys’. Those made her laugh. In the midst of laughing, she narrowed her eyes and said to me, “You owe me, Aunt Anna. You owe me a big one.”
Sylvie’s such an odd cat that I really didn’t think she was going to freak out so badly. She’d spent a large part of her visit with us asking me uncomfortable questions. Questions always about Chi Chi…
I always knew it would be a Chi Chi question because of the sweet way that she’d drag out my name.
Aunt Annnna? Great Grandma’s in heaven and Chi Chi’s in dog heaven. Do you think Great Grandma is mad at you because you put Chi Chi in dog heaven or is she happy because they can visit sometimes and they aren’t in pain anymore?
Aunt Annnna? If you could go back in time….and relive the last two months of Chi Chi’s life? What would you do differently?
Well, I guess I’d have made sure she stayed away from the damned swimming pool.
That’s a good answer. I’d say that too.
14 Comments, Comment or Ping
Too bad no one caugt a snipe; but — alas! — a snipe is no substitute fer a little homunckulatd pooch.
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Chickie said:
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
You speak the truth.
Maybe I should pack up the pooch and send it to her as a consolation prize?
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September 2nd, 2009 7:36 pm
Oh Dear….lol! You Have Scared Her For Life! I love your idea of getting a guilea pig and shaving it… but, of course, that wasn’t right either—as Sweety so correctly said…..Sylvie sounds like a really ‘old soul’. Her questions are penetrating and really thoughtful.
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Chickie said:
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I have sometimes thought that she’s a 35 year old in a 10 year old body. But part of me knows that she was asking those questions just to watch me squirm.
One day she was going to the neighbor’s house for ice cream and I told her to be nice and not embarrass anyone. (she’d said a couple of things that put me or others on the spot) She gave me a brilliant smile, hugged up to me and said sweetly, “Oh no, Aunt Anna. I save that alllll for you.”
Little stinker. She is so my relation.
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September 2nd, 2009 10:59 pm
She may have been upset, but someday she will be sending some other sad little kids out on another snipe hunt.
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Chickie said:
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I really hope so. Then she will understand.
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September 3rd, 2009 12:45 am
She is such a great girl. And so are you.
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Chickie said:
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Thank you. She is so fantastic that it makes my heart hurt.
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September 3rd, 2009 4:05 am
You know that one of these days she is going to get you back. It might take years or even decades; but she’ll get even. Remember she’s related to you, and, for the outside looking in, appears to have much the same personality.
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Chickie said:
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Oh, man. I know…
And when that time comes all I can do is smile and know that I deserved it.
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September 3rd, 2009 6:22 am
I agree with Midwestern City Boy . . .when you least expect it. . .
My favorite part of the whole video? What’s the bat for? “To hit it”
That will have me laughing all day.
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Chickie said:
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I love that part too! We never told her it was for that! We always said it was to rattle the sack with. I guess she got kind of confused at crunch time.
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September 3rd, 2009 11:37 am
Oh, she is so going to get you. And you will only be able to stand back and admire her brilliance.
I like her.
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Chickie said:
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I know that I’m grooming her to get me good. That pleases me.
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September 3rd, 2009 9:12 pm
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