Benji hasn't

My grandson, Benjamin, is 3 years old today. Happy Birthday Benji! To celebrate his birthday, here's a short story about him. I went up to Cambridge to help out with the children (that's Benji and his baby sister Zia) around September/October, and went out with them both one morning. In search of exotic locations, we found ourselves in the cemetery that runs off Mill Road. It was quiet there (as you would expect - you'd be worried if it wasn't!) and we got to a sort-of roundabout of gravel paths, and went to sit down on a bench. There were two tall cranes (not animals!) etched against the clear blue sky, and I asked Benji, "Have you ever seen them move", and he said, "No, I haven't". I though that was pretty brilliant for a 2 year old! The grammar was excellent, but it was also the melodious way he had said it - full of intonation even though it was only three words. It was full of passion too - as if he'd been studying cranes for all his life, with, of course, a speciality in the frequency of their movement. Alternatively, Benji might have said those punchy words so quickly  because he wanted to get into the individual orange juice packet I'd given him, and piercing the hole there requires perfect concentration - much the best, he may have thought, to give Opi (that's me) a quick fire answer. Whatever, it still sounded good. 

And that was it.

But of course it wasn't. You know what it's like when you just can't get a good song out of your mind. Well, when I was on the train home I was involuntarily saying to myself 'No, I haven't' and visualizing the cemetery scene again. I have a lot of respect for what Benji said, and the way that he said it, but it also makes me laugh each time I think about it too. I've given up wondering how many times I've said those words to myself. Have I got an obsession about the words? No, I haven't.