Now THIS is an Excuse!

I was talking to James on the phone just before lunch today and I hear

"Roman, go stand in the corner"

Roman's voice in the background could be heard clearly "What did I do this time?"

James snapped "Don't sass me boy, get in the corner and I don't ever want to see you smack Bethany in the head again."

I could hear Roman getting upset and frustrated at that point, his response:

"I didn't hit her, she wouldn't leave me alone and then my hand got stuck to her head!"

I could so clearly visualize this playing out and could see James's anger at his son hitting his sister just fade away into a blinking stare as he tried not to laugh not quite knowing how to respond. Of course, me not actually being there, was totally cracking up through the phone and had to bail the boy the out.

See, Bethany had eaten dirt pudding with gummy bears when we had dinner at 5 Mile Post the night before and since we got home on the late side I didn't give them a bath, just wiped them down before bed last night. As Bethany was laying in my lap for story time I was stroking her hair and it got stuck in the sticky mess called her hair, so I knew what he was talking about, but James was clueless and thought that had to be the most clever excuse ever! Further explanations produced this scenario:

Roman just went to push her away from him as she wouldn't leave him alone and when he put his hand up to move her over, it got stuck in Bethany's sticky mass and as he was attempting to untangle, James caught what, to a normal bystander, looked like he was hitting her in the head!