"Hey Dad!"

Joel looks up from his seat on the porch steps, beer in hand just in time to see blonde hair bounding towards him from the school bus parked out front.

"Hey there, baby girl." Sarah welcomes Joel's fatherly kiss and hair tousle.

They walk inside and Sarah instantly runs to the kitchen and begins rummaging through her backpack.

"How was school today?", asks Joel closing the door behind him.

"It was good. Mrs. Humphrey said I did a really good job on my essay," her voice faded, concentrated on her search within her bag (most likely too messy to find anything in) before pulling out a sheet of paper marked with red. Looking up with a proud grin she presented the paper to Joel, "and I got a B on that math test."

Joel grabbed the test from across the counter.

"B? Psh, pretty soon you'll know more than me." He gave her head another loving ruffle and turned to hang it up on the fridge.

"So kiddo, what'll be?"

From somewhere behind the backpack she murmured unintelligibly.

"Sarah?"

When he didn't get a response Joel turned around. "Um, Sarah, I'm talking to yo-"

"FOUND IT!"

She held a piece of paper indented with fold marks above her head smiling triumphantly before looking over it.

Joel put his hand on his hip, "And what exactly did you find that was so important-"

"Dad, what did the water say to the boat?"

Joel stared at his daughter wondering if she really was involved with hardcore drugs...

"Um... Sarah-"

"Nothing, it just waved!"

Sarah's smile was nothing less than amused, but Joel just let his arms fall to his sides, a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh...oh my lord- Sarah that was terrible!"

"Oh come on Dad! That was so funny! Here, I've got another one."

"Humpf, this should be good," Joel murmured turning towards the fridge once more.

"Why don't skeletons fight each other?"

"I don't know, sweetie." He set down a beer and a can of soda on the counter.

"They don't have the guts!"

This time, Sarah let out an infectious giggle that even Joel couldn't help but smile. She took this as a sign to continue reading from the list of jokes she'd scribbled down.

"Did you hear the joke about the roof? Never mind, it's over your head!"

"Oh alright, that's enough with the terrible jokes." He grabs the piece of paper and reads the rest of the corny puns. "Where did you get these from anyways? I thought you go to school to study and gossip and stuff."

"There was a new girl in class today, and during lunch I sat with her cause she was by herself. Her name's Ellie and she had this joke book. Dad, I could barely finish my food from laughing so much, she's much better at telling jokes than me so it was extra funny. At the end of the day, she let me copy a few down so I can bring them home."

"Well that's mighty nice of her for sharing, I guess... but please, baby girl, learn some better jokes-"

She sticks her tongue out and Joel reciprocates. Sarah giggles and playfully punches Joel's arm before grabbing the soda and heading to her room.