BOB'S BURGERS
NOT ENOUGH IN THE BOWL
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
As Linda Belcher tucked her kids in for bed, one of them, Gene had a request.
"A tale to send me to slumber" he demanded.
Linda was ecstatic. She hadn't been able to tell a story to her kids since Louise was very young.
She paced up and down the room, delaying the process ever so slightly, before coming up with an idea. She was going to make her bedtime story practical and fun at the same time.
She hoisted Gene out of his bed and led him into the kitchen.
Linda and Gene were soon seated at the table, Linda had prepared two bowls and a plate placed in front of her son.
She took a small chicken bite from one of the bowls with a fork and rested it gently on the plate.
"That's one piece...but is there enough in there?"
She looked up at Gene, smiling warmly.
"Oh hello there, I'm trying to work out if I have enough food in the bowl to last me all the way through dinner time. If I don't have enough left, I could get very cross like our friend does with his mother in tonight's bedtime story. The story is called 'Not Enough In The Bowl'
Sophie Harewood liked a little too much of everything.
She liked to have more toys than all of her brothers and sisters
She liked to have more toothpaste on her toothbrush when polishing her teeth for a visit to the dentist.
She liked to have more than one television in her bedroom, in case one broke down.
She liked to buy more than one comic book every Saturday.
She liked to have a lot in life.
But then came dinner time.
Oh yes, dinner time.
Her mother had prepared a speciality. Two bowls worth of prime cut chicken laced with two kinds of Sophie's favourite sauce, with rice and bread as side orders.
Sophie tucked into the rice, and she picked away at the contents of the bowl, taking one piece of chicken, two pieces of chicken, and a third, all from each of the two bowls.
...And then she stopped.
"Whatever is the matter dear?" asked her mother
Sophie folded her arms and stared sharply at her mother
"There's not enough in the bowl" she said
"Whatever do you mean?" asked her mother
Sophie pointed to the contents of the bowls, there were still two pieces of chicken left in each.
"Not enough in each" she said.
"But what is the problem?" asked her mother.
"I want to have a full plate, I want more of it" snapped Sophie
"But there isn't any more chicken" her mother explained
"What?" Sophie asked.
"I used it all up for this meal" her mother revealed.
Sophie scowled and kicked the legs of the table in a fit of loud, visible anger.
"I want more" she said
"Then all you have to do is pick the bits out of the bowl" said her mother
"But there's not enough" Sophie said.
"Yes there is, certainly enough to fill you up for the day" said her mother
"But I wanted a much fuller meal" protested Sophie
"You can get more than enough from the pieces you have left " her mother assured her.
Sophie did not seem to understand her.
"No, there is not enough in the bowl, I won't eat more until there is more" she said, putting her foot down
"I can't go to the store now dear, they're closed at this time of day" her mother explained.
"Then I shall not eat another bite" said Sophie.
"Why must you be so silly?" said her mother, taking the bowls away.
"Why must you be so lazy and not add more to my meals?" snapped Sophie angrily.
"Go to your room" said Sophie's mother.
Sophie did so, beginning to shed a few tears.
Her mother felt bad, and asked her husband if he could borrow a DVD of his.
She waited an hour or so, waiting for things to settle, then she went upstairs and entered Sophie's bedroom
"Here, let me put this on for you" her mother said, putting a DVD into one of her two players.
Mother and daughter sat together on the bed, watching the DVD, it was a funny little movie about people with pointy ears making weird hand gestures and saying any one who put forth a nonsensical point or argument was "highly illogical"
Sophie laughed at the pointy-eared men, but she found her mother laughed more whenever they said "highly illogical"
"Why are you laughing Mummy?" Sophie asked.
"Because our argument today was just that...highly illogical. Logic plays a part in every conversation...it allows us to make sensible points when talking to one another. You thought there was not enough in the bowl, but logically, you should have still finished everything in the bowl regardless. You would still have had enough to eat. Your brain did not process that piece of logic"
"So I am like those pointy-eared men? I'm illogical?" Sophie replied.
"No, they are the logical ones, I'm one of them, I was using logic" said her mother
"Your ears aren't as sharp as theirs" said Sophie.
Her mother laughed.
"What is it?" Sophie asked
"You just made a very logical observation" said her mother
Sophie smiled, "I am one of them then"
Mother and daughter held each other tight and continued watching the movie.
Later, as her mother put young Sophie to bed, making sure to give her more teddy bears to sleep with than her younger brothers and sisters in their own rooms, Sophie rose up from her bed and asked her mother a question
"When you make your special chicken next time...could you leave more in the bowl...is that...logical?"
Sophie's mother did not have the stamina to argue logic with her daughter at this time of night.
"The only logical thing you need to know is my love for you is more than enough"
With that, Linda concluded her story, twirling the fork in her hand while Gene looked on at her, flabbergasted.
"And that story was called "Not Enough In The Bowl". Do you sometimes argue over things that don't seem logical? I bet you do...don't argue with your mother though, she knows best. Now, I better finish this meal before it gets cold...in the meantime, I think you're in need of more shuteye. Off now, go to bed and sleep tight, I'll see you again for another bedtime story."
Gene, wide-eyed, almost in shock, went to bed under his own power and struggled to do the logical thing...to sleep soundly.