The Dragon and The Chicken

Over the past few weeks of our cross country tour (which I will henceforth call: The Great Trip of 2009) I have been collecting soundbites of the trip. Same idea as a photograph--an image of a moment captured on film--but with words on paper. I'll be posting them all eventually, but there was one that stood out and deserved a post of its own: The Dragon and The Chicken.

We were in the car and it was late. Often, when we're at home, Rob tells the kids bedtime stories (they don't ask me anymore, cause I tell lame stories that usually go something like this: "Once upon a time there was a kid named Miciah/Elijah/Teancom who needed to go to bed. Then he did and the world was right. The end."). But that hasn't happened as often as the kids would like, since our schedule has been chaotic and crazy (but fun!). So Miciah asked for a bedtime story. "A funny one," she said.

Rob thought for a minute. "Once there was a chicken."

Immediately Elijah cracked up and said, "Not THAT one! It's too funny."

After we finished laughing, Rob revised his story to include a dragon (dragons, apparently, aren't nearly as funny as chickens). And chickens, cause Miciah liked that idea. It was a random story that involved a flock of chickens that really turned out to be ostriches, but the dragon thought they were chickens, and the dragon ate chickens, so the ostriches had to figure out a way to not be eaten.

After the story was over, Elijah said it was his turn. This was his story, almost word-for-word:

Once there was a dragon. And the dragon ate chickens.
And there was a bunch of chickens in his cave. And the dragon ate them all up.
Then he had room for only one more chicken. Then there was one more chicken.
And it fwew up. (Mom interjects: "The chicken flew?")
Yeah. It fwew up and landed on his head. (Mom interjects: "On the dragon's head?")
Yeah. Then it FWAPPED him in the face! And the dragon fell down.
Then he got back up. And he ate the chicken.
Then he had a tummy ache.

... the story went on for a little bit, and ended like this:

Then he spit out all the chickens. And he ate them all up again.
Then he had a tummy ache.
The end.

Rob and I laughed so hard that we cried. And we've been saying to each other: "And it FWAPPED him in the face!"