My sons have a habit of getting ice creams from our basement freezer without also bringing one up for me.
So, I have developed a game whereby this process is quickly rectified.
I say, “what, you got an ice cream and you didn’t get me one, too?”
They proudly and defiantly proclaim, “yes. I did.” And smile mischievously.
This is where I have already maneuvered myself into position for my devious act. I snatch their ice cream out of their hands and say, “well, since you didn’t get me one, I’ll just have yours,” and I start to make like I’m going to have a big lick of it.
“NO DAD!”
“Well,” I bargain, “if you get me one in the next 15 seconds, I won’t eat yours …” And, as they run away toward the basement at top speed, I wait for the next play in the game – they look over their shoulder to see what I am doing. At this point I already have the ice cream three-quarters of the way to my mouth and my tongue fully extended toward it.
“NO!” They exclaim and come to a dead stop, then start to run back toward me.
“12, 11, 10 …” I say.
“DON’T!” They scream in agony and run back toward the basement.
Keeping my tongue one-sixteenth of an inch from their ice cream, I wait …. Yes. Once again, they must look! Again they stop with a look of panicked indecision on their face. “9, 8, 7 …”, I continue.
“Aaaaaaggghhh,” they exclaim as they take two stairs at a time down into the basement, sprint to the freezer, grab the first available ice cream, run back to the stairs and attempt three at a time on the way up, then run over to me with the required prize and say “here, here.” And, they look at me expectantly, reluctantly smiling.
I, holding their ice cream high out of reach, examine the booty suspiciously and say, “I wanted the other kind!” They give me their best horrified look and just start to interject, but I say, “15, 14, 13 ….”
Sometimes they remember to consider me now, but other times …, it’s lesson time again! 🙂
The Amateur Astrophysicist 