John, Paul, and Mary       by Al Geist

This is a story about Jeremy, who lived with Paul and Mary.
Jeremy was two years young, and into everything. Nothing in the house was
safe when Jeremy was loose. The floors were always covered with his toys,
and anything else he could drag around.
Jeremy was still getting
used to his body and often did clumsy things. For example, 
once (or twice oops!) he pulled down on the tablecloth and brought
part of dinner crashing down onto the floor. Paul had to rush in from
the kitchen to keep Jeremy from just eating the food right off the floor.

Mary met Paul when he was in college, and they had lived together ever since. 
Paul was attracted to her because she was pretty and a good listener.
She stayed home during the day and kept an eye on Jeremy.
Jeremy was too young to talk but Mary had an inner sense and knew
his name was Jeremy. Paul on the other hand had decided to call the 
youngster 'John' and would not listen to any other options.

Paul was the head of the household. He worked during the day in an
office building downtown and spent his evenings with 'John' and Mary.
He tried to keep things neat around the house,
and he tried to keep John under control.

One afternoon while Paul was at work, Jeremy got thirsty.
The first thing he spies is Mary's water sitting on the living room table.
"Don't you touch that", Mary calls as she sees Jeremy climbing up on the
chair. Jeremy, like many of us, doesn't listen to that whispered inner warning.
His eyes are just inches from the water when Mary screams, "No!"
and splashes a little water on Jeremy's face. Startled, Jeremy jumps
down out of the chair but in his clumsiness he knocks Mary's water
off the table. As the water spills over the rug, Mary falls to the floor 
trying to save the water, but it is too late. "Help me save my water, Jeremy."
Mary cries. But Jeremy is dumfounded. He stares at Mary's struggles.
He is frozen by the knowledge he has done something wrong, 
but with no knowledge of what to do about it.
"It is not my fault, your water was too close to the edge", Jeremy thinks
to himself as he watches Mary. "You caused it, you shouldn't have splashed me."
he continued. How like us Jeremy is. First he doesn't take responsibility
then he blames someone else.

Jeremy is still staring at Mary when the front door opens and in steps Paul.
He takes one look at the scene and says under his breath, "Oh no..."
Then he scolds, "Bad dog, 'John'! You've knocked my fish bowl all over
the floor!"