Carrion Luggage

I asked my kids earlier today about the platypus.  The question was: “Does the platypus have a belly button?”  They both immediately thought it was a trick question and that they had to think long and hard about it.  Sara finally would not respond, and Megan retorted with the fact she knew the question – but not the answer.  Ok, thanks for finding a creative way to say “I dunno”.

Their mother sat there and reminded the girls that platypuses (platypi?) lay eggs and they hatch, just like birds.  This didn’t seem to help them make up their minds.  I quickly said that only mammals have belly buttons, being as they are born from a womb and not an egg – or having been WITH placenta, if you will.  Sara quickly followed that with: “So Cookie and Oscar have belly buttons?”  Good question oh daughter of mine.

This sparked a quick investigation of one dog named Cookie.  He was sitting beside me on the couch anyway – being all innocent and relaxed.  Then I had to go and ruin his nap by defiling his undercarriage.  Nipples, check.  Boy parts, check.  Tail, check.  Hmmm!  Belly button!  Actually it was not so much a button as it was like a buttonhole.  A small ridge, not unsimilar to a human’s but more closed up and like a hidden little nook.

Cookie was delighted when I was done examining his “works” and was fine with getting up and leaving the room.  Maybe he had to wash up, I dunno.  Anyway, I don’t recall what I was thinking specifically before I thought about the belly button thing.  I was actually thinking about Adam and Eve, and how they did not have belly buttons, or shouldn’t have, since they would have been created instead of birthed… but I dunno what led me to thinking about THAT.  Everything before those moments were a blank – and still are.

Next I asked the kids what they thought lions would eat in heaven – since all the animals are suppose to get along there.  (I guess I was on a religious kick today.)  I suggested that they would eat grass – when Megan came back with: “What will people eat?  Will they eat meat?”  No one had an immediate answer for that one.  Although, I finally decided that yes we could and likely would eat meat.  I also added that in heaven, ALL buffalo have wings.  K added that they would be boneless… see, there IS a God.

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