Broken bowl

[Clara is in the living room watching a movie. Mom and Dad are in the family room. They hear a crash. Coming to investigate, they find a ceramic bowl shattered on the floor and Clara standing near it.]

Dad: What happened? [pauses the movie]

Clara: The bowl fell and broke.

D: What did it have in it?

C: Nothing.

D: I mean… was something in it before?

C: Bunny crackers.

D: Oh.

Mom: Watch out, there’s some over there.

D: How did it happen?

C: It just… fell.

D: I mean - what were you doing when it fell?

C: Nothing. I was just watching the movie.

D: I mean… were you holding it, or was it on the couch, or were you jumping, or…?

C: It was on the couch.

D: And it just fell?

C: Yeah.

D: Well… It’s not good to break bowls. Can you think of anything you could do differently next time so the bowl wouldn’t break?

C: No.

D: Well, maybe we shouldn’t have bowls in the living room, then.

C: I didn’t mean it.

M: We’re not mad at you, we’re just trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again. Like when I broke my ankle, I thought, “Oh, I wouldn’t have broken my ankle if I’d been wearing my brace.”

D: Yeah, and once I tripped over some shoes and whacked my head on a railing, and I said, “Oh, I’m never going to leave my shoes by the door again.”

M: Is there anything you can think that you could do differently next time?

C: No.

D: So, basically you were just sitting there, watching your movie, and then the bowl was broken on the floor?

C: [nods]

D: There’s some more over here.

[Eventually, Dad takes Clara to the family room to look for the picture of him after he cut his head. Time passes. Other activities are engaged in.]

[Hours later, Mom is reading a book and Clara is playing quietly.]

C: It was because the bowl was on my head, Mom.

Comments

24 hours later

[again, out of the blue after a long silence, M and C each engaged in something]

C: … I didn’t mean for it to be on my head…

—tjw