Exoskeleton

Posted on Aug 18, 2012

Never let it be said that young children don’t pay attention.

Una, aged two, and an Iverna Gardens pupil, is in the hospital waiting room, awaiting her scan. In the room are other people, some of whom are concerned that the unpredictable nature of the average two year old may make their already difficult day even more difficult. Others have faith in Una’s mother who has spotted the teddy bear, and the scanned image of the teddy bear’s insides which, unsurprisingly, show the teddy to be filled with soft, squeezy stuff. Ever keen to improve Una’s mind, she explains that the image shows teddy’s insides and that the scan Una is shortly to have will show her insides, in fact her bones because people have skeletons inside them rather than soft, squeezy stuff. At the mention of the word skeleton, Una looks up at her mother and, aware that sometimes parents don’t know quite as much as they pretend, says, with a lovely lisp, “Some people have skeletons on the outside”. Whether the rest of the waiting room recognized the lack of faith emanating from Una’s mother as she asked “Really? Who?”, they were, to a person, astonished at the answer: “Lobsters!”


Summer School surprise

Posted on Jul 26, 2012

Miss Emily is fortunate in having an older sister who loves her. This comes in handy when the lure of the Isle of Skye proves more potent than the first day of Summer School! As a result, Sam arrives bright and bouncy on Monday morning and is introduced to the children as Miss Emily’s sister. Most of the children take this with equanimity. But one little boy (let us call him James) is not prepared to countenance a universe without Miss Emily in it. For him, Sam is Miss Emily, just a bit funny looking. Tuesday arrives and James busies himself all day making togas and boats and practising his discus throwing. He makes no comment when his dad arrives to pick him up but when he gets home he flings himself at his mum and says: “Mummy, Mummy, it’s all OK. Miss Emily has turned back into herself again!” No amount of persuasion by Mum would persuade James that Sam had been anything other than a funny looking Miss Emily!