“So, Tempest, you’ve been playing around that tree, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“I heard the fence move, and that can only mean one thing.”

“Well, I may have tried to get to an ornament or two.”

“You know that is the quickest way to drive Mom up the wall.”

“How much could it hurt? There are plenty of ornaments.”

“That’s not the point. She doesn’t want you swallowing anything harmful.”

“I don’t think a couple of needles would be harmful.”

“Says the dope who continues to eat leaves. Say, what’s that on your face?”

“Face? Nothing.”

“Oh man. You have got to be kidding me. You got an ornament. Where is it?”

“Okay, you caught me. It’s over under the tree.”

“Come here and wipe your mouth like this.”

“Why? I didn’t eat anything.”

“Trust me, you need to wipe your face. You need to spend some quality time doing that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I didn’t eat anything.”

“That’s not going to help you when Mom sees your face.”

“Oh, hi, Mom.”

“I can’t bear to watch.”

“Tempest, do you know anything about this ornament on the floor?”

“What ornament?”

“Twiggy. Look at all these delicious leaves.”

“Oh no. Tempeste, you leave them alone.”

“I’ll leave them alone. Alone with me in my mouth.”

“You are going to get in so much trouble.”

“Who’s going to know? Unless you tell.”

“I’m not going to tell, but you know those aren’t good for you.”

“Not good for me? Well, I think otherwise.”

“Come up on this porch now.”

“You sounded just like Mom.”

“That was Mom,”

“Oh man, just look out there. And more keep falling.”

“And you will make yourself sick if you keep eating them.”

“Look at this one.”

“Leave it.”

“It’s such a little one. Couldn’t possibly hurt.”

“You are going to develop a leaf dependency if you’re not careful.”

“What a way to go.”

“Oh, brother. You’re hopeless.”

“Okay, I’ll leave them alone.”

“If only.”

“Hey, Twiggy. Check out my Down Dog yogi move.”

“I can’t see you from here.”

“Darn it. You missed my Down Dog.”

“Well, just do it again over here.”

“What do you have there?”

A snowman from last year.”

“I don’t remember that toy.”

“Well, it was here last year. Maybe you just forgot.”

“Just forgot? Are you kidding? I have the memory of an elephant.”

“Well, it looks like you are one peanut shy of a full memory load.”

“This is serious. You don’t think I have dementia, do you?”

“Of course not. You are too young. You just forgot the toy, is all.”

“I never forget a toy. That has a face no one could forget.”

“Well then, maybe you never played with it.”

“I guess that could be. I try to grab every toy, so this has me confused.”

“I can sure vouch for you grabbing toys.”

“I know, right? This might be serious.”

“Forget it already. Just accept that you overlooked one.”

“I don’t know if I can. Forgetting a toy is one thing, but not grabbing it is quite another.”

“I’ll be through in a minute, then you can grab this one.”

“You are  such a good sister.”

“Or someone who wants this memory vs grab conversation to be over.”