(The family is on the way to church. The church is located in a sketchy part of town, where gang tagging and vandalism is on the rise. Carrie sometimes likes to looks at the tagging, since it's a SORT of art, and sees instead a business who has painted the side of their building with logos and such in an effort to keep the tagging at bay.)



Me. *deep sigh*

Nolan. (Looks at me with concern, squeezes my hand) What's wrong?

Me. People disappoint me.

Nolan. Who?

Me. (Points) That sign. Plural is different than possessive. It's an apostrophe. It isn't that difficult. There are rules.

Nolan. (Laughs) You're funny.

Me. Why is that funny? I think it's tragic.

Nolan. No, YOU'RE funny. There are people killing themselves in the world, dying in war zones, and you're worried about punctuation.

Me. Bad punctuation kills me. It's PAINTED on the side of the building, for crying out loud! It isn't even one of those signs you change out. (whispers) That mistake is permanent.

Nolan. I think you should start a letter writing campaign to all the businesses in town who use improper grammar in their signs.

Me. I could, you know. Someone should tell them.

Nolan. Yeah. *mocks me* "I'm not shopping at your establishment because you aren't smart enough to string together a correct sentence." That'll work.

Me. (glares) Well, I'm not likely to be doing business at 'Flaco's Auto Repair, where they specialize in Euro's, anyway."

(Family continues to church - the punctuation goes uncorrected and the mocking ceases.)