On a nighttime walk down to the park, Fleegle and I pass a picture window framing the family of five inside watching television.

Fleegle lifts his leg on their mailbox and says, “They look like people inside a television watching television. Do you thing they’re watching people on their television watch television too? What would people do without their televisions?”

Later, while we’re at the park, the street lights suddenly go out and there’s not a light on to be seen. It’s a power outage.

On our walk back home, we pass the house with the picture window again. Now in the darkened window all that can be seen are five faces illuminated like ghost from the glow of their cell phones.

Fleegle shakes his head. “You’ll never be without your televisions.”

Next Negotiating with Cookies: Monkeys and Manatees

Previous Negotiating with Cookies: Doodles