Micro Story #4

This one is a bit more compicated. I didn't actually finish it until I posted it here, so, hope it doesn't suck too badly!

"And then what happened?" asked the little boy to his father, who was unprepared for this remark.

"Well, and then they had children, who grew up and had children and so on." The boy's eyes went wide in wonder.

"Forever and ever?" he asked.

The Father considered this. "Yes," he said finally. "I suppose they did."

The boy's face grew puzzled. "But what happened after that?"

The Father felt very put upon by this point. But it was then that he realized that the boy had no notion of Eternity. The word meant nothing to a child whose whole life is lived so quickly. Eiternity only matters once you see what the end of the line looks like. "Son," said the Father, "Forever is a really, really long time. It's the longest time you can possibly think of."

The boy thought for a moment. "So it's like waiting for the Dentist to finish cleaning my teeth?"

The Father chuckled, but agreed.

Emboldened by this the boy continued. "Or like when we're sitting in Church and the preist is saying the closing prayer and he won't say 'Amen'?"

The Father laughed loudly at this and nodded agreement.

Feeling daring, the boy pressed on. "Or like when you and Mommy are in your room and-"

"Son!" said the Father, cutting the child off at the pass. "There are somethings that are meant to take a long time. And some things that you should not repeat. Ever. To anyone. Especially people. Or me. Or Mommy. Ever." The father's blush began to subside slowly.

The boy looked thoughtful again. "You mean, forever?"

THE END

So what'd you think? Too much? Not enough? I don't know. And what I was trying to go for was that the child heard the parents arguing about something rather embarrassing but since children have no concept of embarrassment, the boy brings it up as a frame of reference. I leave the topic of that argument to you.

Oooh! Post creative ideas in the Comments Section! I like that plan!

-S.