The Long Way Home.....

There is something pretty cool about living in a small town. Normally, I walked our daughter (whom I'll call Nissa to protect her privacy) to and from school. But there were times when I was busy working, so I advised her to ALWAYS, ALWAYS walk down Providence Street because she had so many "aunties" and "uncles" on our street that no-one would dare grab her or kidnap her. I noticed a few times she seemed to be coming from another street, which made me uncomfortable (as we didn't have any friends on that street). So, I purposely decided to walk her home the next day. When we got to the corner she said "Let's go down Cherry St. instead". "Hmmmmmmm" - well Mums have instincts and I knew there must be a reason she preferred to go down Cherry St. (which was not as pretty a street as Providence St.) So I said "No, let's go down Providence St. as normal". About midway home when nearing a home where dear friends Jim and Beth lived.....Nissa began to really lag behind and in fact slowed down to a snail's pace. "Something's going on" I thought. Suddenly as I waved to Jim sitting on his porch he yelled back "So....Nissa....how much is 8 times 8? And what about 8 times 9" The "mystery" was solved. Nissa knew that if she walked down Providence St., "uncle" Jim would surely be sitting on his porch (especially as he had just retired) GRILLING her on her multiplication tables. They say "it takes a village to raise a child". I'll tell you one thing...she certainly memorized her multiplication tables!