a zapruder moment

G. poked his head in the door this morning and directed something along the lines of “blah blah mumble mumble pschew” towards two not fully awake adults. Christine’s answer sounded very much like “no”, which sent G. running about the house saying “no school today!”

The boys felt cheated yesterday because they didn’t get the day off from school due to the snowstorm - even if it was a Sunday and they were already free and clear of the chains of education. I get the impression that snowstorms and the associated activities (sledding, snowball fights, wet clothes) are only graded as a success if they’re accompanied by a canceled school day. I imagine I was asked at least a half dozen times yesterday whether I thought there would be school today and I think I gave a well considered answer; yes and no. I thought it was going to be too warm for the evening/night rains to do much more than leave everything a wet and slushy mess (which it was); yet, I know how the ‘schools’ work around here so I rolled the dice on a two-hour delay. It’s difficult for adults to remember being a ten-year old and betting on whether or not homework needs to be done because you’re simply hoping that the weather guy is at least 100% right about the 50% chance of snow. I often went all-in on that little nugget of a bet, watched a bunch of TV, and lost my shirt when morning came without a trace of fluff. Bastards.

Back to this morning’s story - here’s the actual transcript of what was said:

G.: “Mommy, is there school today?”
X.: “Huh?”
G.: “Henry, no school today!”
X.: “Gabe! There is school today.”
G.: “But you said there wasn’t.”
X.: “No I didn’t”
G.: “You just did.”
X.: “I didn’t. I said ‘Huh’ to your question. I didn’t understand you.”
G.: “But you said there was no school.”
X.: “There’s school.”
G.: [hrumph] [exit stage left]

As if Mommy has the power to cancel school due to inclement weather. I believe there was a fleeting moment when G. almost decided to stand his ground, fight it out on grounds of "misunderstanding", and NOT go to school.