Conversations in the car
Marlo: “Hey, Leta!”
Leta: “Marlo, you don’t have to scream.”
Marlo: “I went to a birthday party lastht night and there was a parrot there.”
Leta: “Okay, first of all it wasn’t last night.”
Marlo: “Yesth it was!”
Leta: “No, it wasn’t. It was like, last week.”
Marlo: “IT WAS LASTHT NIGHT!”
Leta: “And I was there, too. Remember?”
Marlo: “No you weren’t.”
Leta: “And that wasn’t a parrot. That was a dove. Very different birds.”
Marlo: “It was a parrot and I held it and then I took it home.”
Leta: “You did not take home that bird.”
Marlo: “STHHHHHH! I HID IT IN THE BATHTUB!”
……
Marlo: “Hey, Leta!”
Leta: “Mom, can you make her stop screaming.”
Me: “Marlo, stop screaming.”
Marlo: “I went to a birthday party lastht night and there was a magisthian there.”
Leta: “Marlo, we talked about this yesterday. That party was not last night, okay?”
Marlo: “STHTOP! I’M NOT DONE!”
Leta: “Marlo—”
Marlo: “He opened a boxth and a horsthe jumped out.”
Leta: “That was not a horse—”
Marlo: “And I got on itsth back and rode around the mountain.”
Leta: “I WAS AT THAT PARTY WITH YOU, Marlo. And that wasn’t a horse. It was a rabbit.”
Marlo: “IT WASTH A HORSTHE. With big earsth. And a tail. And we rode around the mountain.”
Leta: “Mom, are you listening to this?
Me: “Yes, intently. I am waiting for her to say that the President flew in to give her a medal.”
……
Marlo: “Hey, Leta!”
Leta: “Let me guess. We just got into the car and you’re going to tell me about the birthday party you went to LAST NIGHT. The birthday party that I was at WITH YOU. The birthday party that happened LAST WEEK.”
Marlo: “MOM! LETA WON’T LET ME TELL MY STHTORY!”
Me: “Leta, let’s see what she has to say this time.”
Leta: “FINE. Go ahead, Marlo.”
Marlo: “I went to a birthday party lastht night—”
Leta: “See! She’s doing it again!”
Marlo: “FINE! I WON’T EVEN TELL YOU ABOUT ALL THE MONEY!”