SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

David takes several big gulps from an orange soda before he sets the can down on the kitchen table.

“So guess what we did in Science today, dad?”

Bon Adventure sits in a chair across from him, absorbed with the stubborn end of a unopened box of donuts.

“I have no idea, son. What did you do?”

“We were talking about that water density thing. And guess what else?”

Excited by his still-fresh experience, the boy allows no time for reply.

“We even talked about that one thing that would make a drop of water go flat.”

His hand rises above his head to dive down toward the table where he smacks it sharply to punctuate the idea -- Bang! And both hands spread out across the table top.

And then he grins across the table at his dad.

His father momentarily looks up from the obstinate carton. Then at once they both exclaim,

“Soap!”

The lid finally snaps open. One donut is carefully taken out. A single bite gets quickly washed down with a cold and tart soda.

The boy picks up his orange soda to take another sip. Bon Adventure reaches for a napkin while chewing a second bite.

“How do water striders go so fast, dad? I‘d like to catch one sometime and find out.”

Dad eats the remainder of his pastry, watching David twirl his can of soda in circles as the boy reads the label. Then wiping some dark smudges of chocolate from his fingers, he takes one long drink of his own soda before setting down the can.

“A man once took a fly and super-glued its teeny head to the tip-end of a needle.”

David looks up at his dad doubtfully.

“Then he stuck the other end of the needle into a cork.”

The boy’s can grows silent.

“Dad, are you making this up?”

“Next he turned on a fan so it would simulate a strong wind, and the fly immediately started flying, just like he is supposed to do.”

David sips more of his soda, but keeps quiet.

“Then the man filmed the fly as it flew through the breeze. He used high-speed photography so that later on, he could play the film back real slow. That way he could study to see how the mysterious wings of the fly worked.”

David grins and slides his chair away from the table. He takes the empty can over to the counter where he places it in a neat row of other empty cans.

“I’m going to go outside and catch me a water strider with my butterfly net.”

“So then are you are going to try and find out how his legs move?”

“Yeah…I mean Yes sir.”

He sails on past his dad and the box of donuts on the kitchen table.

“So how exactly are you going to do that, after you catch one?”

Bon Adventure closes the lid of the container before sliding his chair away from the table.

But David keeps moving as he considers this question out loud.

“Well I’ll…

He is half-way across the living room before he finishes his thought.

“I don’t know, dad. I’ll just have to figure it out.”

And the storm door slams shut.