A: Mrs S, you're from Montana! You'll like this. Guess what I did this weekend.
Me: Um, you went to a movie.
A: No, I killed three turkeys with one shot!
Me: Really. How'd you manage that?
A: Well, there was this big group of turkeys all mixed up, and I shot, and the bullet went through the neck of one turkey (insert hand gestures to clarify how a bullet might go through a turkey neck) and then went through the head of the turkey behind it, and then the bullet went into the upper chest body area of the turkey behind that. [At this point A. is gasping and grinning from not having breathed in over a minute, having madly gesticulated all the while.]
Me: Huh. [Blink]. Maybe you should write about that in your journal today.
A: Already on it, Miss!
I had to fight hard to not first laugh out loud, then ask him where one might find turkeys all the way down here in New Zealand outside of a poultry farm. In the end I just had to smile. Not only was he finally quiet and writing, which isn't an easy feat for this kid, but his eyes were shining the same way my nephews' eyes shine when they share an adventure with me.
Good stuff. Not a bad way to start the week, even if it did mean the deaths of three turkeys.
