Boys

 Ethan side-glanced at Nathan, and Nathan side-glanced at Ethan. They were in small group, and one of the members was from New Jersey. He had been saying something to the group when the word "water" popped out. Both of the 10 year-old boys had noticed. 

As soon as their eyes met, the corners of Ethan's mouth went up. Then Nathan knew all was lost. Hold it together, he said to himself. He couldn't lose it in the middle of the meeting. But, for Ethan, all was already lost.

His scrawny little body began to shake. His belly pumped vigorously. He was already thinking about quietly leaving the room when the laughter burst from his lips. He fled from the group toward the kitchen. Mrs. Slater rolled her eyes. "Oh, to be ten again, and a boy." The group chuckled.

Nathan also began to shake. He also knew his mother would not be as lenient with him as Ethan's mom was with her own son. So, he quietly and quickly left the room in the opposite direction toward the bathroom. Once safely inside the closed room, he let it all out and calmly returned some minutes later.

After the meeting ended, the two boys nibbled on cookies on their way to the back porch. 

"Oh, boy! That was bad," Ethan laughed. 

"Yeah, so glad it's over. We should know better by now that we do NOT look at each other in funny situations," Nathan added. 

"Haha! But, how did he say it again?" Ethan asked through his ongoing chuckles. 

"Woiter or woter, I don't know. It was too funny." Obviously, these two young men didn't know too many northerners. 

The rest of the night was spent in laughing at all sorts of silly, nonsensical jokes.

~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward 20 years. 

The two dads stood in Nathan's yard while their kids played a vicious game of something. Suddenly, Ethan thought of some stupid joke and obviously had to share it with his friend. Soon the two men were laughing and joking and completely unaware of their wives, the children, or the burning burgers on the grill. 

Amy looked at Christy and said, "Oh, to be a man."

"And to be ten," Christy added. 

~~~~~~~~~

I'm not personally sure boys ever grow up.