Billy is an old soul. Always has been. Probably always will be.
Part of this personality trait is his ability to play people. That sounds wrong. He just uses his smile and words and you forget that what he did was wrong and Billy doesn’t get in trouble. I know about this talent and still I fall victim occasionally.
The other night at dinner, Billy wasn’t eating. This is out of the ordinary. Billy is usually my best eater and he eats and eats and eats. This night he wasn’t. The boys had had some candy before dinner, but I had told them just two pieces.
I asked Billy how many pieces he had eaten. He became sheepish and finally admitted to 5 pieces (I think he probably had a couple more than that even, but I didn’t push it). I said, “Billy, I said everyone could have two pieces. Why did you eat five?”
His answer? Well, it was something like this…
He put his face in his hands and looking tired and sick and woe-begotten, Billy said, “I guess, well, I didn’t hear you clearly.”
I was speechless. Completely caught off guard. Unsure where to go with that.
Kevin?
Well, he was busy snort-laughing with his head down over his plate.