I was washing dishes when I heard the girls arguing about something upstairs, so I went upstairs.
Dannika was by the light switch in our bedroom and Elise was on the bed.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I want the light off and she doesn’t,” Dannika said. Her voice held that plaintive, whiny note that drives parents, particularly these parents, to distraction at times.
Dannika then turned the light off.
“Turn the darkness off. Turn the darkness off!” Elise wailed.
Dannika turned the light on again. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a funny face. We began laughing.
“She always says that,” Dannika said between giggles, forgetting her complaint now. “When we are in our beds and she wants the light off she says, ‘turn the darkness on’.”
The argument was forgotten and I returned to the dishes.
Although, honestly, it might have been a book I was reading when their argument interrupted me. I don’t remember. It could have been the dishes; I feel I am always washing dishes around here. But really, I just wanted to pretend I was a better housekeeper than I am.
dandelionfield 
