the trick

the other morning, i woke up to conspiring voices in the next room. the subject of conversation was a trick to be played on me. eli was clearly the orchestrator, and was liberally doling out orders to pen, who he regularly employs as the arm of his myriad dastardly schemes. for example, if you catch eli saying "pen, say it... say it nice and loud," you are almost certain to catch pen saying a potty word. as i was privy to the minutiae of the clandestine conversation on this particular morning, however, it became clear that the aim of the trick was far more innocuous than initiation of crude bodily humor. the two were to garb themselves in similar selections from eli's wardrobe, then enter my room, leaving me utterly bamboozled, and otherwise unable to discern one child from the other. of course, i played into the game, but i couldn't help but notice how much pen really did look like a little boy in need of a haircut. i suppose it's true what they say about "the clothes making the man." (that they do.)