"Don't you wish?"

Yesterday, after the bus trip, a couple of silling little things went wrong. And as Maggie knows, sometimes the big things are easy. It's tripping over the pieces of metal the kid drug in from the rubish heap and left in the dining room that throw you over the edge.

Anyway, after muttering very bad words, taking the pieces of metal outside, tossing them into the rubish heap, and, unknown to me, scaring Frankie who was at the other edge of the heap behind the garage still digging for treasure, I took a break. Later I wandered back into the kitchen and complained about the inability of my family to put dishes in the dishwasher. Frankie was there and said, "I put all my dishes in the dishwasher."

Now he may or may not have put ALL his dishes in the dishwasher, but I am confident he remembered putting something in so I said, "You're a good boy" in a voice that sounded quite sincere, if I do say so myself.

Frankie grinned and said, "Don't you wish I were your real, natural-born son?" I gave him a quick hug, forgetting he doesn't like hugs and said, "I'm just glad your mine, however you got here!"

His grin got even bigger.