Political Surveys

Tonight I read the kids a funny story as a bedtime story. The kids got into a huge debate over whether it was funny or not (are all siblings like this?)

Anyway, they were a little riled up when Adam came up to say good night to them. Almost as soon as he made it upstairs, the phone rang and he ran back downstairs to answer it. In no time at all, he was back upstairs.

"Who was it?" I asked, thinking it was his parents, returning his call.

"Oh, it was just one of those political surveys," he replied.

"Aw, man, you should have let them talk to me!" Xavier said. Then assuming a foreign accent, he said, "Hel-lo. You have reached the butt-wax factory, and we'd like to give you a free moonshine?"

(This is a commonly heard joke around our house that Xavier picked up at school. Public school has a lot of virtues, but nothing is perfect.)

But then Gwen continued, "If you are interested in taking us up on our offer, please call our toll-free number: 1-800-865-8900."

Adam replied, "You're going to redirect political telepollsters to WVTF's toll-free pledge line?"

I bet that's more than our local NPR station had bargained for.

I went to Xavier's Parent-Teacher conference today. He's doing fine -- As and Bs -- but the first thing his math teacher said was, "We really love Xavier. He is so funny.

"Here we are, what, 30 days into the school year? And yet, every day, like clockwork, 'Ms. Oster, do we need to do the back of the page?' I don't even answer anymore.

"But today, Xavier said, matter-of-factedly, 'What do you think? What is the answer to that question EVERY DAY?!? Of COURSE we have to the back of the page. Why do you think she puts something on the back of the page if we don't have to DO the back the page?'"

Well, someone had to say it.