A 5-year-old boy, Timmy, was visiting his Grandma Rose. While Grandma was busy dusting her antique furniture (which, let’s be honest, probably hadn’t seen a duster since the Nixon administration), Timmy was happily engrossed in a game of “make-believe monster truck rally” with his toy cars on her Persian rug (Grandma Rose secretly hoped he’d total at least one).
Suddenly, amidst the roar of imaginary engines, Timmy looked up, paused his demolition derby, and with the innocent curiosity only a five-year-old possesses, asked, “Grandma, how come you don’t have a… *slide*?”
Grandma Rose, mid-swish with her feather duster, nearly choked on a dust bunny. A slide? In her bedroom? She blinked, trying to decipher this perplexing question. “A… slide, Timmy?” she repeated, her voice laced with confusion.
Timmy nodded emphatically, his eyes wide with wonder. “Yeah, a slide! Like at the playground! So you can *whoosh* down really fast!” He demonstrated with a dramatic wiggle and a whooshing sound effect that would make a seasoned foley artist envious.
Grandma Rose, still slightly bewildered, considered the logistics of installing a slide in her bedroom. The sheer impracticality was almost comical. The image of a brightly colored plastic slide snaking its way from her bed to the floor, potentially causing a catastrophic collision with her prized porcelain doll collection, filled her with mild horror.
She chuckled, a warm, throaty sound. “Well, sweetie,” she said, kneeling down to his level. “Grandma’s a little too old for slides now. My bones aren’t as bouncy as they used to be.”
Timmy considered this for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought. Then, his face brightened. “Oh! Maybe you need a *ramp* then!” he declared, beaming. “So you can *roll* down! That’s safer for old bones!”
Grandma Rose burst into laughter. The image of herself, gracefully, or not-so-gracefully, rolling down a ramp in her nightgown was too much. She hugged Timmy tightly. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all week, sweetie,” she said. “Maybe we can build one… out of pillows!”
