Rosendale Ramblings By Sari Botton

I believe it was right about this time last year…

The scene:

An unseasonably warm April day, just like today, a few months after we moved into the house. Brian and I had lunch outside, at the beat-up wooden picnic table we’d just picked up at a yard sale down the block.

Our lilac bushes were just beginning to bloom, but there was enough transparency for a five-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy on the other side to be able to spy on us.

Dramatis personae:

Me
Brian
Nicholas – four-year-old neighbor
Nicholas’ sister – five-year old neighbor

Nicholas, through the bushes, standing, staring at us with his sister at his side: “Hey, who are you?”

Brian: “I’m me.”

Nicholas: “No, but who ARE you?”

Brian: “Well, I’m Brian and she’s Sari. Who are you?”

Nicholas: “I’m Nicholas…is she your girlfriend?

Brian: “No, she’s my wife.”

Brief pause.

Nicholas: “Then, where’s your family?”

Brian: “Well, my brother is in New Paltz, and one of my sisters lives in Kingston…”

Nicholas: “NO! Where are you kids?”

Brian: “Oh. We don’t have kids.”

Brief pause.

Nicholas: “Well…who’s gonna play with the toys?”

Interesting question.

Brian: “We are.”

Good answer.