Now, that's funny!

I was having breakfast with a friend when the subject of picking up litter came up. The prior weekend, my friend and her family had a picnic. They made a point of picking up litter around the area for fifteen minutes before leaving - to show their appreciation for the ability to access such a nice place.

I recalled how, when Will was three or four, I could only get him to go walking if we took a bucket and picked up trash along the way. It was shocking how much stuff we'd find in our residential area - beer caps, an occasional can, junk mail, and tons of cigarette butts.

Will, who had been mostly quite during our conversation, about fell out of the booth laughing. "Cigarette butts," he wheezed, as he beat upon the table top with one hand. "Now, that's funny."

Well, I thought that's what he said.

Will has a slight speech issue and some times I just assume he's saying what I expect to come out of his mouth.

"Yes," I replied with a wry grin, "You thought it was pretty funny back then too."

My friend and I shared a smile over boys and their odd sense of humor. After breakfast, I loaded the kids back into the car to head home.

"Cigarette butts," Will said with a smile as he climbed in.

Only, this time I was paying a little more attention. Something was off with how he was saying cigarette. "It's not 'rat'," I corrected. "It's 'ret'." Then I slowly pronounced cigarette so that he'd hear each syllable.

"Oh," he said, sounding disappointed. "I thought you said sewer rat butt."

Now, that's funny!