Wilson

by Cynthia C. Whitehouse

 

I was born with a question in my mouth. Some says I’m curious. Others says I’m a pest. Momma says it’s the sign of a genius and I shouldn’t bother about all those people telling me to shut up all the time.

Now, I’ve been watchin’. And I decided that there’s three kinds of people. First, there’s the people who will say to my questions, "Well, Wilson, I really don’t know." You rarely meets them, but I like ’em.

Next, there’s the people who maybe know and maybe don’t, but they ain’t sayin’. "Go away, Wilson," is all they says. I don’t like them.

Then, there’s the people who know everything and will spend all day telling what they know as long as you keep asking. I like them best. Momma calls them "know-it-alls." She says their brain has stopped taking in new stuff ‘cause they think it’s full. She says you have to be careful when you listen to know-it-alls, because what they knows is tainted, on account of all that stagnatin’.

My best friend, Homer, is a know-it-all. He has dark hair and big, brown doe eyes, just like the deer daddy shot last winter. Homer has kinda fat lips that always seem just about to curl. And a little pug nose. Momma says his face is shorter than what it should be, and when he talks, he looks like a puppy dog barkin’. Since Momma said that, I find it hard not to laugh when Homer gets to talkin’ really fast. But I love to listen to Homer.

Homer knows all about atom bombs and who’s got them pointed where. Homer says they used to have them all pointed at me, but now they’re aiming them at a fish called Charlie somewhere out in the ocean. I’m glad they’re not pointed at me anymore, but I sure do feel sorry for Charlie.

When I asked Homer what Charlie done that was so bad he said, "Charlie likes to swim in other people’s water."

"Well, how do they know whose water is whose?"

"They draw lines in it, with a great big pencil," he said. "Boy, Wilson, for a genius you sure don’t know much."
 
                                                                 ---End.