Once upon a time there was a lemon

This is Isaac:

This is Elijah:


Isaac and Elijah's parents took them out to eat. They were very happy. Elijah was happy eating his goldfish. Isaac was happy playing with his cars:


But Isaac and Elijah's Daddy and Mommy had other plans. Instead of goldfish and cars, they decided that they would, instead, entertain themselves, as most parents do at some point in the lives of their children, by giving their boys ... lemons. Since Elijah eats everything, they decided to give it to the younger brother first. Enter if you will, Elijah's brain at the moment Daddy and Mommy handed him the aforementioned lemon.

"What is this? It is yellow and pretty and soft and squishy. I put everything I touch into my mouth. Why should this yellow and pretty and soft and squishy thing be any different?"

"Here goes nothing."

"What the heck was that?!"

"Ohhh. Ohhh. Remove the yellow thing from your mouth. Quickly. Hurry."

"Well I'll show you little squishy thing! How dare you do that to me?! What kind of pretty yellow thing are you anyways to do that to a little baby?"

"Set the yellow, squishy, pretty thing down on the table, Elijah. Despite all desire to put everything you come in contact with in your mouth, refrain. Inspect it. Think about it. Try to figure out what just happened. Breathe Elijah. Breathe. But refrain."

Now go with us into stage II of the parents' plan. Go with us into Isaac's brain. He has just watched little brother eat aforementioned pretty, squishy, yellow thing. But he is older. He is wiser. He is not afraid. In fact, one might even say, he is excited for his opportunity.

"Oh this is so exciting! Something new! How fun!"

"Wait a minute. What was that? Was that sour? I'm not sure."

"Let's give it another try."

"Hmmm . . . uhhh . . . yeah . . . sour . . . I think that is sour."

"Yeah. I'm definitely sure that is sour."

Believe it or not, Wendi, the mother of Isaac and Elijah, can vividly remember a night in Long John Silvers when, after innocently using the restroom, she return to find her glass of sprite replaced with a glass of lemon water by her young and giggling parents. She remembers how sour it tasted and how mean she thought it was. And yet, for some, strange reason, she thought it would still be fun, twenty-five years later, to do it to her boys.

And she was right.

It was fun.