"Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Amy answered her three year old son as she carried him towards the kitchen door from the driveway.

"Where do hipalotamuses come from?"

"Do you mean hippopotamuses?"

"Yeah, them." Amy smiled as she closed the kitchen door behind her and deposited John in a chair at the kitchen table. She placed her purse on the table and then turned to start plating and heating up their dinner.

"A place called Africa."

"Where's that?"

"A long way away from here," she told him as she continued fixing their plates. She turned to microwave John's plate first.

"How far is that?"

"It's so far you have to take a plane to get there."

"Like the planes I see in the sky sometimes?"

"Uh huh."

"Can we go on the plane?" Amy chuckled.

"Someday."

"How long 'til da plane gets to Aff-rica?"

"A long time," she told him as the microwave beeped and she removed his plate. She took a small fork out of the silverware drawer for him.

"And when it does then we can go see the hipalotamuses?" John asked excitedly. Amy giggled at his excitement as she placed his plate in front of him and then turned around to pour him a cup of juice.

"We can go see them at the zoo instead." John frowned.

"Why not in Aff-rica?" he asked as Amy placed his cup in front of him.

"'Cuz it's too scary to go there while you're still so little." John pouted.

"I not little! I a big boy!" Amy smirked as she placed her plate in the microwave.

"Yes you are, sweetie but there're lots of animals in Africa that are bigger and scarier than you and I don't want you to get hurt,"

"Why would the aminals hurt me? I nice." Amy laughed.

"Not all animals, just some of them."

"Like what?" he asked as he took a bite of his lasagna. Amy thought for a minute.

"Well, like lions."

"Like Simba?" he asked, thinking of his favorite Disney movie the Lion King. "But he's nice. Not like Scar. He's bad." Amy got up to retrieve her plate from the microwave.

"Yes, there are mean and bad lions like Scar there," she stated as she sat down at the table.

"Do the bad lions eat hipalotumuses?"

"I don't think so, but they eat other animals."

"Maybe if they eat sumting else then they wouldn't be so scary?" Amy's brows furrowed with curiosity.

"Something like what, sweetie?"

"Hot dogs!" John exclaimed, a huge smile on his face. Amy smiled back at him.

"You really like hot dogs huh?" John nodded his head.

"I like dem this much!" he spread his arms out to show Amy just how much and accidentally knocked his cup of juice onto the floor. He looked at it for a moment and then furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh dammit," he said calmly. George walked into the kitchen in time to hear John's statement and chuckled. Amy, however, was not amused.

"John Juergens! You know not to use bad words!" She stood up and then swiftly picked John up, depositing him on a small chair in the corner that served as his time-out chair. John protested.

"But mommy! That's what you're a sposed to say when you knock over a cup!" Amy was halfway to the microwave to set the timer for five minutes when she stopped and spun back around to look at John.

"What do you mean?"

"That's what grandpa said dis morning when he knocked over his cup of funny smelling brown stuff," he explained while pointing at George. George's face turned beet red at being called out by his grandson and then being subjected to his daughter's angry scowl, a scowl her mother had subjected him to on numerous occasions.

"DAD!" she exclaimed. "I'll thank you not to teach my preschooler bad words!" George swallowed awkwardly but John's voice interrupted.

"Since grandpa said a bad word does he have to sit in time-out too?" Amy narrowed her eyes at her father as she considered it but George was sufficiently chastised and wordlessly sat down on the floor next to John and then looked at Amy. She set the microwave timer for five minutes and then sat back down at the table to continue eating. When the timer beeped Amy walked over to John's time-out chair and knelt down until she was eye-level with him.

"John," she began gently. "What is mommy's rule about using bad and rude words?"

"Not ta use dem 'cuz dairs always a nicer way to say what you wanna say to sumbuddy," he answered. Amy nodded her head.

"That's right." She turned to look at her father.

"And I'm sorry I used a bad word. I'll do better," he assured Amy. Amy looked back at John.

"Sorry I used a bad word, mommy. I won't use it again." He leaned forward to hug her and she hugged him back. She then picked John up and put him back in his chair at the table and then slightly reheated his dinner. She washed her dishes as she waited for him to finish eating. George grabbed the soda he had come into the kitchen to get and then guiltily slunk back into the living room, Amy shaking her head at her father.