More crackers

This afternoon I was standing in my kitchen preparing a snack of crackers and cheese (and sriracha). Surveying the munchables laid out on the counter I thought, “Do I need more crackers?” and was instantly transported.

The scene is set maybe thirty years ago, around the family dinner table. We’re eating chili or soup or some dish which was usually accompanied by crackers in our home. I say to Dad, “Can I have more crackers?”

“You want more crackers?”

“Yeah. Can I have more?”

“OK, you can have more.”

He then took a cracker from the crinkly cracker tube, placed it on the table, and brought his fist down onto it like a hammer. Sweeping the crumbs toward me he said, “There you go. Now there are more of them.” Or he tried, anyway, since he was so taken with his joke that he could barely talk through his laughing. His eyes were all squinched up from the laughter so he probably couldn’t see the dirty look I’m sure I must’ve been giving him.

At the time? I was unamused.

Now? Now I kinda want to try it on someone else.