He had to go work

Over the weekend we had guests, friends of mine from grad school. It was really nice to see them, and we had a lot to talk about. Their daughter and Sword really hit it off, too. We wanted them to stay longer, but the husband had to travel to Mexico to do some fieldwork, so the visit had to be cut short.

Bow kept insisting that I not allow them to leave. "Don't let them go, Mommy," he kept spelling. When I explained about the trip to Mexico, he kept wanting to know why. "He has to go work." "But why?" "There's a language that is about to die out, and he has to write a dictionary." No matter how many explanations I gave, Bow didn't understand, and he thought I should stop them from leaving. "Mommy, why does he have to go?" "There are people who have a language, but it isn't written, so he has to write them a dictionary. Do you understand?"

Bow spelled: "Yes." But two minutes later he was asking me the same question, and he kept asking it after they left. That was yesterday. But Bow is a realist, and he accepts the inevitable, even if he doesn't understand.

This morning, before breakfast, Bow took my hand and spelled: "The guy had to go to Mexico to work."

"Yes," I answered. "That's right."