Weekend Episode

"CLANG CLANG CLANG went the trol-LEY!

“RING RING RING
went the BELL!

“ZING ZING ZING
went my heart STRIn-"

GUT PUNCH!

"Uuu-uh!"



The weekend episode re-played through my head this morning as Noah belted out that chorus before school. He'd sung it earlier at the end of the long, active weekend. As a result, he annoyed his brothers and 12-year-old cousin, Drew, who'd spent seven of the past 10 days reveling in our male household.

"YOU are a family of quotes and inside jokes," Drew observed Sunday during his last lunch with us. "If you don't watch the shows they do -"

"Everything goes over your head," I said swishing my hand over mine. "Yeah!" Drew chortled.

During their past two weekends together, the four boys had done well together.

They'd sawed up a fallen pine tree and built a fort; bussed tables and washed dishes at our church's fall supper; helped teach Sunday School; tickled Tickles' kittens; played football;


shot pool and darts; walked the dog; tackled their homework;

loaded, hauled, stacked and helped split three loads of winter wood with Dan;

battled each other in numerous video games;

and kept me cooking to fuel their adolescent-to-man appetites.

To relax, they held – what Isaac dubbed – “A Simpson Marathon,” by watching 22 animated episodes of the Springfield, Illinois family. Dear Daddy-o had deemed "The Complete Fifth Season” among “must-haves” in our family DVD collection.

As usual, mealtime conversation consisted of wacky, quote-after-quote bantering between the guys, followed by my long sighs of female incomprehension, until Drew spewed forth his psycho-analysis.

Its full truth hit home this morning as I helped Noah with his third-grade spelling list. I read, “Number 13, Annoy.”

“You mean like I ANNOY Aaron?” Noah asked and launched into a complete rendition of “CLANG CLANG CLANG went the trol-LEY!"

“WHERE did you learn that song – in music class?” I asked. Noah replied, “Nope. The Simpsons.”

Noah explained the episode: Homer’s (rich, aging, bachelor) boss – Mr. Burns – almost dies and begins looking for an heir. He holds auditions among the Springfield children. One obnoxious boy sings: “CLANG CLANG CLANG went the trol-LEY, etc.” Another boy gets up during the song, punches him in the gut, and stops the noise. Mr. Burns thanks the bully, turns to (his sidekick) Mr. Smithers and says, “Give the boy an extra point.”

I
laughed
"horribly"

(noted Noah)

as I
grasped
the reason
behind


Sunday afternoon’s outrageous episode driving to our pond place.
For 20 minutes, and in spite of verbal warnings from his five fellow travelers, Noah repeated that awful song until Aaron finished it with the GUT PUNCH.

At the time, I was furious with my 13-year-old son. Worse yet, the episode repeated itself on the drive home. As I prepared supper, I called in Aaron and took him to task: “I know Noah can be annoying. But, how old are you: Two? Use your words. Not your actions!”

“You just don’t GET it,” Aaron had said then. Now Noah lit the light.

I understood: Aaron was right. So was Drew. And Noah – as were all the men in this household. They speak a foreign language of quotes and inside jokes, and like the characters on the shows they watch, they push each other to the limit.

“Just what do you expect singing THAT song?” I asked.

Noah smirked and headed down the stairs, to the door and out to the bus. I slid open the window and hollered, “Which DVD was that one on?”

“Disc 4, Episode 1, Burns' Heir.” Noah laughed, “Why? Do you want to watch it?”


I
closed
the
window
and
sighed:

Who wrote
this
Weekend Episode?

Oh, how I long for the days of Little Bear and Kipper.