Even though we see Justin and Joy every day, we have begun this practice of the two of them coming to our house for a Saturday dinner. Just as if we were living next to each other in Toronto.
Justin and I play chess in the living room. Joy plays with some of Justin’s old toys, plays with Justin, and with Suzy.
Right now I’m sitting in my Archie Bunker chair while Justin sits on the sofa. Joy leaps at him, and he grabs her tightly.
“I gotcha!” he exclaims and she shrieks in happiness. “I gotcha and I’m never letting you go!”
Joy struggles in his arms. “I’m never ever ever letting you go!” he says as she struggles. He releases his hold just enough to allow her to escape.
“Ha ha!” she exclaims. “Again!”
She jumps on the sofa and he catches her. “I gotcha and I’m never letting you go!”
She escapes and wants to do it again and again and again.
Suzy comes in from the kitchen, and looks at them. She watches this interaction a few times. “Dinner’s ready,” she finally says. “Joy, go wash your hands.”
Joy runs to the bathroom. Justin gets up slowly.
“The metaphor there is staggering,” she tells Justin as he passes by her. “What are you trying to teach her?”
“I”m teaching her how to behave with men who smother her with love,” he says. “You know, possessively. When she grows up.”
“Huh,” she says.
I look up at him, surprised he had given that game thought.
“And more than that, I’m teaching her to eventually let me go. When it’s time.”
Suzy nods. “Good job,” she says. “Wash your hands.”
—Told by Grampa Walt