January 6th, 2025
We had just finished eating supper. I was getting ready to clean up.
Suddenly, a four-year-old shouted, “The floor is lava!”
I looked at Asher and asked, “What?”
He repeated, “The floor is lava! You have to get your feet off the floor. Hurry!”
“Why?”
“BECAUSE THE FLOOR IS LAVA!”
I sat on a chair and lifted my feet off the floor.
Asher told me, “I need to throw my stuffed animals on the floor, so I can walk on them, and not step into the lava.”
“Let’s not do that. Asher, I need to wash the dishes.”
“Can we play hide and seek first?”
“On lava?”
“The floor is…floor now.”
“Oh.”
Asher asked again, “Can we play hid and seek?”
“Well, for a while.”
“Okay! I need that little flashlight.”
“Why?”
He looked at me incredulously, “To find you!”
“So, I’m hiding first?”
“Yeah.”
I replied, “Okay. I’ll find a place.”
Asher said, “No. You’re doing it wrong. Go into the bedroom and turn off the light. Then I will come and find you.”
“You can’t tell me where to hide.”
He ignored my comment and said, “Here. Just go into your bedroom and turn off the light.”
I went in there and hid behind the bed. I heard Asher yelling,
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve! Here I come!”
I squatted down in the dark, and I heard him run down the hallway. He opened the bedroom door and flashed the light here and there. He got confused, and said, “Grandpa?”
“BOO!”
I jumped up and he jumped back. He was laughing hysterically.
He said, “You can’t do that!”
We played for a short time. I got tired of it. I told him,
“I have to wash the dishes now.”
Asher slumped over a bit and said,
“Okaaaaaaay…”
I walked over to the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet.
Behind me I heard, “THE FLOOR IS LAVA!”
Frank is Emptiness 