I'm Not In Control
Phil was playing checkers in the kitchen with Oscar when he heard Arnold and Gerald entering the room. The elderly man looked up from the board to greet them and said "Hey there boys! How was school?"
After setting his bag down, Arnold went to the fridge to grab him and Gerald a soda. The discouraged boy then leaned against the counter with his drink as he began to explain the incident which took place at school.
"Well, I was in the cafeteria talking to Gerald at lunch…"
"Hmm, sounds like a normal day to me." Phil butted in.
Ignoring the remark, Arnold went on to say "Then we heard a noise on the other side of the room."
"Noise? What kind of noise? Laughing, snoring, crying…"
"No grandpa. One of my classmates was screaming…"
"Ooohh that was my next guess!" Phil smacked the table, not caring to let his grandson get on with the story.
Oscar was taking advantage of the time Phil spent looking away from the board by moving as many pieces as possible.
Arnold then continued on with the incident "Anyway, Curly was riding the cart with the lunch trays across the cafeteria."
"What the heck for?"
"He was trying to catch Eugene to take to the zoo to free the animals with him. No one knows why he acts that way."
"Arnold, did I ever tell you about the first time your grandma made me dessert?"
"Uhh no?"
"Hehe. She told me I could have anything I wanted. I said 'As long as it doesn't have raspberries, I'll eat it.'"
"What'd she make you?"
"She handed me what she said was a strawberry pie, that turned out to be a raspberry pie."
"Why'd she do that to you?"
"Because shortman, raspberry was her favorite! She may have liked the idea of doing something nice for me, but that wasn't going to stop her from having her favorite dessert!"
"I don't get it, what's the point?"
"The point is, you can't control others. We want people to behave like we do, when all we can really do is embrace their differences. Why do you think I still eat it every time she makes it?"
Arnold continued to drink his soda as he watched Phil turn his face back towards the game. "Hey wait...did you touch anything?!"
The blonde boy rolled his eyes at his grandfather's ignorance while Gerald turned to look at his best friend and glared "Like he said, you can't control people."