Grandpa Gutoski has taken to telling Max stories in front of the campfire. For the adults that get stuck listening to the story, the experience is painful, but Max LOVES it. He cuddles up on Grandpa's lap and begs him for a story, while I sit nearby grumbling that it is already 1 hour past bedtime. Grandpa has no regard for bedtime, and is at the mercy of his grandson's whims and so he launches into yet another story.
Most of grandpa's stories are knock offs from the well known "Magic Tree house" series, in which the main characters travel to new places inside a magic tree house filled with books. They simply open the book to the page they are interested in, wish to be there and viola! And so grandpa begins his tale with a magic tree house built on our very own river property. Max climbs the ladder of the magic tree house and...
Grandpa: Do you know what he saw when he climbed in?
Max: TRUCKS!
Grandpa: no, books.
Max: But I want it to be trucks.
Grandpa: no its books.
Max: But grandpa, I like trucks.
Grandpa: We can't have trucks in the tree house. It's books.
At this Max bursts into tears, sobbing over and over "but I wanted trucks!"
Grandpa: (exasperated) Fine! There are trucks AND books. But the trucks are small.
Max accepts this and Grandpa continues with his story. In the story, Max opens a book about a construction site and wishes that he were there, the treehouse starts to spin and
Max: Grandpa, I want to see dinosaurs.
Grandpa: I thought you liked trucks.
Max: I also like dinosaurs.
Grandpa: Well, we are going to a construction site.
Before Max can interrupt again he finds himself in a deserted construction site exploring heavy machinery. Before long, a construction worker appears and chases Max through the construction site yelling something like "stay away from my trucks". But Max jumps into a bulldozer and starts to drive away and then...
Max: A DINOSAUR comes!
Grandpa: No. There are no dinosaurs...we are at a CONSTRUCTION SITE.
Max: (ignoring grandpa) And its a T-rex and he grabs the construction worker and --
Grandpa: THIS IS
MY STORY!!!!
And so it goes....as a pair, Grandpa and Max tell a very entertaining story. My only regret is that I did not get it on video.
