Conversation · Little Lily

But what if I don't want to be a man who swears? What if I want to be a No-Bad-Word Cop?

Because it's just not you. I'm sorry.

I won't swear! I just won't! I'll just go quiet, you watch!

Please, don't make this more difficult for yourself. It's okay to swear. It can be healthy, even.

...

...

... Fuck. I guess I am a man who swears.

Yes. There you are.

It has only lasted three seconds. The girl still waits for her answer.

What? No clever answers from the body and brain? Nothing?

The little girl tilts her head. "Do you promise you won't say bad words anymore?"

"Anything that will help me dismantle Capitalism, so that you can inherit Communism, O' Girl Child Revolution?"

"Cap-capi-capeel..." She struggles to pronounce the words. She shakes her head. "No."

The lieutenant sighs, and kneels to be eye-level with the girl. "Maybe someone you know has acted a little different, lately?"

"Poor Girl Child Revolution. What have the bourgeois done to you?"

She turns the stuffed lamb to face her. "What does that mean, Lamby?" The doll offers no reply. Stuffing hangs out its rear.

"Never mind. Have you just seen or heard anything weird lately?"

"Hello, mister!" A young girl, barely four or five years old, sits on the sofa. She is looking at you with frank curiosity.

She clutches a small stuffed animal. Occasionally she twirls it around.

"Uh, mister, what were you doing in my fireplace?"

"There was a phasmid in it! I was trying to catch it."

"Ohh, okay!" She nods seriously.

"Nothing."

"Ohh, okay!" She twirls her fuzzy beast in the air.