Quest for a Hot Dog

Hot Dogs by rob_rob2001

Tonight, I came home from work a little bit later than usual. It was important to get home before sunset as I wanted to clean out an air conditioner window unit. There is plenty of humidity where we live, so they tend to grow mildew. It is a bit of a chore to remove the unit, open it up, spray it with Lysol mildew remover, and then put everything back.

One thing that makes doing outdoor work less of a chore is that my youngest daughter plays outside when one of us is outside. She will not play outside alone. So, once "we" finished outside, we came in and washed up.

My daughter is a skinny little thing. So, when she decides to eat, we encourage it. Tonight, she wanted a hot dog. Ruffling through the refrigerator, we found some weenies. I put a pot of water to boil to cook the franks. The coloring on the weenies did not look right. On further inspection, they looked spotted, as if mold might be starting. I told Io that the weenies were bad; and I tossed out the package.

We generally do not cater to our children. They eat whatever we serve. However, we did not make dinner tonight. Furthermore, she didn't know what else to eat. I saw her hunting for something else to eat with no success. What is a father to do?

So I put a pot to simmer and told Io to put on her shoes. We would go to the store. The trip is not very far; the grocery store is a few blocks away. We rode with the windows down. We picked up some Angus beef franks and shredded cheddar. This is far from an epic story.

I think the reason this seemed worth remarking is that it was one special thing to do for one child. We could have fed her something else. But, she wanted a hot dog. Before deciding to go, I mulled the decision over in my mind. It is a short trip. Franks do not cost very much. And, we could spend a little time doing something together.

As I write this, she is telling me a story that we started yesterday when discussing that movies have writers. They start with a story idea and then flesh out the story with details and dialog. So last night, she had a rough idea about the story. Tonight, she is giving me the full script. I guess a bedtime story is my reward for getting her something to eat. We do things for each other.