The finger and a white lie

Tim and I try hard to be cognizant of what we discuss in front of the girls. But sometimes, like a few days ago, we forget what we're saying - or I forget what I'm saying - and we wind up in one of those "discussions" that we were saving for later, when, you know, the girls are older.

Or, we pull ourselves out of the messy "discussion" with a clean, little white lie.

A few days ago we were driving to the movie theater to see Secretariat (not very good, but worth it for the horse racing scenes alone). A woman driver next to us, annoyed about being in Los Angeles traffic, gave us the finger as she cut in front of us and sped off.

"Did you see that?" I exclaimed to Tim. "She just gave you the finger!"

Oops.

"What does that mean she gave you the finger?" Caroline asked.
"It's just a grown-up expression," I said.
"What does it mean, though," Caroline pressed.
"Uh, uh... she wagged her finger at me," I said lamely.
"What does that mean?"
"You mean she took her finger off and handed it to you?" Katherine asked.
"No, no," Tim said. "She was shaking her finger at us."
"Her pinky?" Katherine asked.
"No," I said.
"What finger?" Caroline asked.
Tim took his index finger and wagged it. "Like this."

"She was being rude," I said with an air of finality.
"Yeah, that's not polite," Katherine said, wagging her index finger at Caroline.

"So, what treats will everyone get at the movie?" I asked.




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