“Grampy!” Doc called up the stairs. “Kit said the A word. Are you going to wash his mouth out with soap?”
“What?” I asked. Doc’s been getting a bit mouthy lately so we’ve been threatening to use the time honored gob full of Ivory as a remedy for swearing. Kit, at 9, is a bit old for that but Doc, 5, is right in the zone. “I don’t know, Doc...” I sounded doubtful. “I don’t think it’ll work on him.”
“I’ll give you 4 Matchbox cars...” he offered with a devious grin. What a sweetheart! He loves his cars more than supper. He was practically smacking his lips at the idea of test driving his brother on a bar of soap. “And a Batmobile...” he added sweetening the deal, knowing my weak spot was collecting Batmobiles.
“I’ll think about it.” I said, encouragingly, “when I come downstairs.”
It was a full 10 minutes later before I made an appearance and Doc was right there, seeking retribution for having been the on the receiving end of the dreaded A word. If the threat of soapy tonsils for saying bad words hung over his head, he reasoned, Kit should get it, too. I could hardly keep from laughing.
“Okay,” I agreed and took Kit into the bathroom and closed the door. We ran the water, wet the bar of soap and he gargled out the words “nonononononooooo...... Glampy, don’t! I blowwwnnt do it again!” through a glass of water.
Doc tried to crash through the door he was dying so hard to see but he missed the whole thing. “Hey, why can’t I watch?” he wailed.
We came out, Kit wiping his chops and Doc with wide eyed wonder looking Kit over to find out what kind of damage soap could really do to bad words.
It’s always nice when the boys look out for each other.
