In Which He Answers His Own Question

On the way downtown to get Paul this evening, Elliott starts to ask me about fine china.

"Why," he asks, "do people have those big cabinets with glass filled with the really nice dishes?"

"You mean like our china cabinet," I say.

"Yes," he says. "We have it full of fancy dishes we never use."

"Some people use their dishes on Christmas or Thanksgiving," I explain. "But we don't use ours because we have so many boys and that would..."

"Mom," he interrupts, moving on, "for Christmas I want a komodo."

[Turns out he doesn't want this; he wants this.]