We all had our preferences when it came to meals, but we couldn't afford to be too picky. Mom and dad were extremely particular, and so the menu in our house was already pretty slim. We didn't realize it at the time. In fact, it was several years into my own marriage before I realized that the folks were picky. I was never a bright child, and evidently, not a terribly bright adult either. At one time, I went through a Trix cereal phase. It's all I would eat. I still like Trix. But I also like broccoli, which I discovered on my own as an adult.
The bigger the boys got, the more they ate. Ming was especially hungry and I think he would eat anything. Usually I found that completely annoying, because it seemed every time I went to the kitchen he had beaten me there and everything was gone. I remember seeing a movie one time when one of the main characters was magically transformed into the body of a 12 year old boy, though he was still a adult. One of the most profound observations the character made was "I am ALways HUNGRY!!" It helped me to understand my brothers were normal. Well............... at least when it came to their penchant for consuming food.
One evening found little brother Bunns, and myself in the kitchen with one of his friends just talking, and as was often the case, things turned creative when just talking wasn't enough. We had finished dinner and the leftovers were still sitting out. Mom had made biscuits from a can and the one left over was sitting in a pan on the stove. "Somehow" it ended up on the kitchen floor, and was used as a puck for a fun game of kitchen hockey. It worked really well for that purpose.
When we heard Ming pull in the drive, my little brother and I just looked at each other, scooped up the biscuit, and placed it back in the pan. It's important to note that we had dogs in our house, as well as a family of five and lots of friends in and out. And mom chose the floor we had in the kitchen because it didn't show the dirt. It didn't get cleaned, or even swept very often. So to make the biscuit look as it should we had to take a few seconds to brush off the obvious detritus of every day life before placing it back on the stove.
Just as we knew he would, Ming burst through the door and came directly to the kitchen. He was like a "bull in a china shop", walked heavily and always made noise. Nice because we always knew where he was, and we were rarely taken by surprise. Those of us in the kitchen just resumed our earlier conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Ming walked to the stove, checked out the leftovers, picked up the biscuit, and put the whole thing in his mouth.
Bunns was a master at keeping a straight face. Me? Not so much. But I was able to hide my face so that no one could see me holding my breath to keep from bursting out laughing while Ming contentedly chewed and swallowed the biscuit. It had gotten really quiet while we watched him snack, and he finally picked up on the fact that he was the center of attention. All he said was "What?" and I completely lost it, and the rest of the group quickly followed. And again he asked "What?" I don't remember who it was that told him the biscuit had spent the last 20 minutes on the floor sweeping up dirt and dog hair while it was kicked around by our bare feet. I was too busy just trying not to hyperventilate. I think that was about the same time he started licking things before he handed them to us. Yeah.......... payback lasts a lifetime.
And He said to His disciples,
"For this reason I say to you,
do not worry about your life,
as to what you will eat;
nor for your body,
as to what you will put on.
For life is more than food,
and the body than clothing.
Consider the ravens,
for they neither sow nor reap;
they had no storeroom nor barn,
and yet God feeds them;
how much more valuable you are than the birds!"
Luke 12:22-24
Ming and me before Bunns came along..............
and things got interesting.......
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