The Truth Breaks Out

Children can be so honest, sometimes (when they are not lying their heads off, I mean).

Here I am, faking my way through my social life. People at work ask how I am and I say, "Fine". My face closes up. My manner does not invite further inquiry.

A nice lady at church says hi and asks what we have all been doing. I say, "Oh, you know - the usual".

The Little Dude pipes up and says, "We've been making embryos - in a dish!", he says, as if it's all been quite exciting. "But then my mummy cried when the baby didn't come", he adds mournfully.

I watch the nice leady reel as she confronts this outbreak of inappropriate truth-telling in the polite church environment. She pauses as she wonders whether to pretend he didn't say it and save us the embarrassment, express her sympathy, or simply busy herself with her own child, who is pulling at her skirts. But she is too late to do any of it because, while she thinks about it, I have run off to the bathroom to hide where no one can see my lips trembling and my face collapsing - a private place where no one can see me cry.

But later on I have to start laughing as well. That lady teaches Sunday school. Wait till the Little Dude starts sharing with the other pre-school aged kids what mummy told him about where babies come from. The story is longer and wierder than they can possibly imagine...