Hold The Anchovies [FICTOID]

“Whatcha doing, grandpa?”

“Oh, we’re just deciding how to rule the world.”

The little girl laughed.  “You’re funny, grandpa!”

“Funny?  How?”

“You and your friends don’t rule the world!”

“Oh, no?  And why not? 

The little girl dug her toe into the carpet.  “Because you don’t do anything!  You just sit and talk and play cards.”

“Well, what do you think we talk about?”

More toe digging.  “I dunno…things…stuff…you kn ow…”

Her grandfather laughed and beckoned her to come sit on his lap.  “That covers a lot of territory,” he said.  “But I’ll be honest with you:  We talk a lot, and sometimes to little girls -- bright little girls -- that talk seems to make no sense, no sense at all.

“We don’t meet things head on, we circle around themother players asked.

“Yup.

“Now, just today we were talking about pizzas.

“Were we really talking about pizzas?  No, but we use pizzas to talk about things that can be represented by pizzas.

“And by saying what those things represent, we can male small changes here and there like dominos falling over, having profound changes.  Do you understand?”

“No.”

Her grandfather chuckled and ruffled her hair.  “Someday you will,” he promised.  “Now scoot off to bed.”

“Okay,  G’night, grandpa.”

The little girl kissed him and ran upstairs.

The grandfather rejoined his friends at the table.  “You done?” one of the other players asked.

“Yup.”

“Good.  I’m hungry.  Let’s order a pizza and play some cards.”

“You’re hellbound to start a nuclear war, aren’t you?” the grandfather said.

© Buzz Dixon