"What sort of toys do adults play with?" Spock asked Lebena.

"Adults do not play with toys," she responded.

"That was my understanding," Spock agreed, "But this article says otherwise. It says that one should play with adult toys in order to add romance to a relationship."

Lebena shrugged,

"All I can say is that an adult playing with a toy is something I have never seen."

*****

Spock asked everyone they knew, and they all gave the same answer. Sure they had seen their parents playing chess. They had even seen them tossing a ball with a sibling. But playing with actual toys? Never.

Spock kept asking. He asked Surlek. He asked the kids on the playground. He even asked his teacher.

"Adults do not play with toys," she had barked, "Toys are beneficial to development, as they help children practice what would otherwise be boring and repetitive actions. But it is illogical for adults to play with toys, because they are already developed."

Spock nodded his head in agreement. That was what he had thought in the first place.

*****

Spock was pleased, however, to discover that there were several listings for 'Adult Toys' in the Universal Business Directory. None of them shipped to Vulcan, but he figured he could at least inquire.

"I am interested in some adult toys," Spock said to the Comm. screen as soon as the clerk picked up. Looking around, the store seemed a bit dark and dank, and there was nothing that he recognized as a plaything.

The clerk stared at him.

"Are you a Vulcan?" he asked.

"Yes," Spock responded, and after a minute added, "But I could pay extra for shipping."

This didn't seem to register.

"And how old are you?" the clerk asked.

"Eight years, nine months and twenty–three days."

The clerk turned around.

"Hey, we have an eight-year-old Vulcan here who wants to buy some adult toys," the he yelled out to the store, and another clerk, a girl, came to sit next to him.

"I'm sorry, we usually don't sell adult toys to children," she said gently, with a bit of a smile.

That figured. Spock was never old enough to do anything.

But then he remembered a time when he gone to a store with his father, and he'd gotten special consideration by talking to the manager.

"Perhaps I could talk to Mr. XXX," he suggested.

"Who?" the girl clerk asked.

"Mr. XXX, the proprietor."

The store was called XXX Accessories.

The clerks stared at him.

"I simply want to buy some toys for my parents," he stated.

Suddenly, a look of realization came over the clerk's face.

"Oh," she said, "You want toy toys."

Spock wasn't sure how these were different from normal toys, but he nodded.

"I would try Galactic Gadgets," she advised, with a tight smile.

*****

The clerks at Galactic Gadgets were far more helpful, and Spock ordered a couple of Rubik's cubes and a Scrabble set. They assured Spock that both were widely enjoyed by adults.

"Do you want to play Scrabble with me?" Spock asked his parents as soon as the set arrived.

"Of course," Amanda agreed, explaining the rules to Sarek.

"I've always been really good," she added, "It comes from being a teacher."

Amanda drew first, and put down the word CLERGY. She seemed really pleased at the number of points she got.

"What dictionary are we playing with?" Sarek queried. Amanda looked as if she thought this was a strange question, but answered,

"Oxford."

Sarek played SYZYGIAL.

"That is not a word!" Amanda protested.

"It is in the Oxford dictionary," he stated.

Amanda made a face.

"It is," Spock defended him, "It is also in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the Earth standard dictionary and six of the seven other dictionaries I have read."

Amanda sighed, and it was Spock's turn. He quickly put down QUILLAI.

Amanda looked irritated.

*****

After the game, Spock slipped into the closet and peered through the cracks in the door. He had left a pair of Rubik's cubes on his parents' bed, a complicated arrangement for his father, and a simple one for his mother.

Sarek picked his up, solved it within ten seconds and put it on the bedside table.

"I wonder why Spock left these here?" Amanda asked. She got into bed, and started on hers, "Perhaps Spock was having trouble solving them."

Amanda continued to twist, but made no headway.

"That is unlikely," Sarek replied, "It is not a very difficult problem. I do not care if the boy is half goldfish, Rubik's cubes are well within the capabilities of an eight-year-old to solve."

"I don't like what you're implying!" Amanda cried.

"That difficulty solving basic math problems might come from your side of the family?" Sarek suggested smugly, looking at the cube in her hand, which had yet to have a single row the same colour.

Amanda slammed it down on the bedside table with a bit of a 'hmmph'.

Spock waited until his parents were asleep before he crept across the room, solved his mother's cube and replaced it on the beside table.