FRIEND

4: a favored companion

We had friends over for dinner last night. Actually, my daughters had friends over for dinner. Had you been here, you would not have seen them, but you might have heard them. One of K's many eccentricities is her fondness for imaginary companions. Ella and Jamina are old favorites, so they were here last night, along with Lily and Martha, who are, I believe, new friends.

What set last night apart was that A & B decided to interact with the cadre of imaginary friends. K brought a crew over to the table with her, instructing them the entire walk to the table about how they needed to be quiet and listen and obey her. While I am trying to get K to focus and eat her dinner, A suddenly says, "K! Tell Lily to stop poking me in the eye. She's distracting me." K was only too happy to do this and off she went, telling Lily to stop that right now.

B decides to get in on the fun, too, and asks K to please ask Martha to get out of her chair so that she can eat her dinner. Meanwhile, K's spaghetti pie sits in her bowl, getting colder by the second as her imaginary friends swarm out of control.

I decided to take things into my own hands at that point. Looking firmly at the group of imaginary girls to the right of K's chair, I said, "Girls, you must stop talking right now and let K finish her dinner. Do you understand?" The chorus of silent agreement was all that was needed.

We finished our dinner and K left the table to join her imaginary friends and real sisters in play.