In the car enroute from swim lessons to the grocery store, Link shouted with glee “A white buggy!” All the children then craned their necks to determine that in fact there was a white volkswagen beetle right in front of us. Link then observed “but it’s not a turbo” the excitement in our car waned a little. Yes it was a beetle, but it in no way compared to Daddy’s beetle, which is infinitely cooler because it not only is a turbo, but is actually Turbo Schlock. (Schlock being Howard’s custom plate)
We spot beetles all over town and they’re always greeted with joyful cries. My kids haven’t yet been introduced to the concept of “Slug bug” and so thus far we’ve skipped the hitting and resultant crying because “She hit too hard!” I wonder if Howard ever thinks about that as he drives through town in his cool green beetle. Does he ever contemplate that everywhere he goes children are yelling and hitting each other? Good thing it’s a turbo bug so he can out run all those tired and frustrated parents.
We called it Punch Bug when I was younger. But we never actually hit each other. Well, my siblings tried but I’ve got a very concentrated punch and better eyesight so they only tried it once. 🙂
Yup, Punch Buggy it was for me as well. By “was” I mean “is”, of course, as my 23 year old sister still does that.
Slug-bug at Aspen Grove
Up at Aspen Grove I parked Turbo Schlock in the spot closest to the dining hall, which allowed me and the rest of the family to use it as a sort of big, green locker in the center of camp.
On the first morning’s breakfast I was on my way in and a pair of children were calling slug-bug on each other, and arguing over who saw it first, and who gets to hit whom.
I stooped over and announced that the rules of slug-bug CLEARLY state that if the owner of the slug-bug is present on the discussion, he is the ONLY person allowed to hit ANYBODY, because it is HIS CAR. REGARDLESS of who called it first. After all, he saw that car on the lot and PAID MONEY FOR IT.
This not only shut the children up (“Uh-oh… is this scary man going to hit me?”) but also gave their harried parents a good laugh.
–Howard