As a child, I would spend the night with my grandparents every now and then. Their bedtime was 10:30 p.m. sharp. That’s when the nightly news ended.
Their custom was to do their best to stay awake until 10:00 p.m. to watch the 10 o’clock news. Sometimes, Grandma would fall asleep with her ice cream cone in her hand, melting onto her lap. Sometimes Grandpa would lean back in his La-Z-Boy recliner and almost inhale the living room with deep thunderous snoring.
But when that 10 o’clock news music hit the speakers, it was all eyes open and watching.
One particular evening, I noticed the opening to the news. All the anchors, the weatherman, and the sports guy’s pictures flashed across the screen, with an announcer’s deep voice introducing them to the viewing audience.
Announcer: You’re watching KY3 News at Ten. Christina King, Tony Beason, Tom Dye, Weather, and Ned Reynolds, Sports.
I looked over at my Grandma, stunned.
“Grandma! Tom and Ned have the same last names as what they report on.”
“What?”
“Tom and Ned! Their last names are Weather and Sports.”
“Honey, I don’t think so.”
Of course, as a six-year-old child, I knew better.
“Yeah, that’s what they said as their picture showed up!”
“Yeah, well, uh. That’s just a description of what Tom and Ned are talking about.”
“But they said Christina King, then they said Tony Beason, then they said Tom Dye Weather, and Ned Reynolds Sports.”
“Uh, okay.”
She considered it a lost cause trying to explain it to me.
It was several years later when it finally dawned on me.
to those who have tried to explain something to a child unsuccessfully,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 