In Which Ethan Affirms His Maman

Setting:  leaden skies, overlooking dreary brown Iowa fields, surrounding an old farmhouse kitchen--lighted with those ugly, curly, cold-looking, energy-saving lights-that-probably-give-off-death-rays....

Characters:  Ma--the aging matriarch of a large brood; nearsighted with a touch of gray in her short but slightly wavey and not completely unbecoming hair.
Ethan--the eighth of ten children; age 9, with a flat top haircut and a generous sprinkling of freckles across his nose-which he claims to hate but which his mother simply adores...

The breakfast meal has just concluded. Ethan picks up his empty bowl and takes it to the counter--fairly recently redone in a "blue denim" motif from Lowes....

Ethan:  "Thank you for the meal, Mommy."

Ma:  "You're welcome....it's not like I did much. I just put the cereal box on the table."

Ethan:  "But you set the table, Mommy. Without the bowl and spoon we couldn't have eaten!"

Ma:  (appearing somewhat distracted) "Hmmm....I guess I hadn't thought of that."

Ethan:  (quite cheerfully) "Sometimes, you just have to use your head."

*blinks*

(fade to black)

*additional fading*
 

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