The tipping point

At the Science Center there is a touch tank with sharks and sting rays.  I have heard of kids taking headers into the tank but I always wondered how that happened.  Well, thanks to a friend of mine, I now know.  We ran into the Nuke Doc's family at the Science Center Friday down at the touch tank.  One end of the tank has a slanted edge for shorter kids to be able to reach the water.  It starts low and moves up to accommodate kids of different heights.  They have a four year old and a two year old (C and E) so if they are standing together, which they were, then one is either too high or one is too low.  What would you choose?  Trust the four year old or listen to the two year old whine?  She did what I would do and have done, trust that your child won't lean too far.

It doesn't take long for one of the sharks to come by.  Turns out this one shark in particular is a sneaky little bugger that likes to tease you by coming at you close and shallow then going deep just before he is in reach.  He did just that to the four year old.  Not to be out maneuvered C continued his pursuit only using his two fingers, as instructed.  The only issue was that those fingers are attached to his hand, which is attached to his wrist, which is attached to his arm, which is... oh, you get the idea.  Next thing I know he is headed for a dip. It looked like he went a bit too far and one of his feet slipped putting him past the tipping point.

The Nuke Doc's wife moved into action letting go of E to grab C before he got another bath.  So there she was holding C by a leg and an arm over the touch tank.  She brought him back from the brink and everyone else seemed none the wiser.  C was embarrassed but only wet up to the shoulder.  I laughed the rest of the day.


Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot


Al