When Life Imitates Art

Tonight we were reading "Wind in the Willows" before bed. This evening, Toad found himself in jail for the umpteenth time for stealing and crashing motorcars. During his incarceration, he was befriended by the jailer's daughter, who ultimately took pity on him and helped him escape his confinement.

Kinley: Mommy, that's terrible! She is going to get in a lot of trouble! She can't just do that! She freed a prisoner!

Then she slowly sat up as her eyes became as big as saucers. She whispered in her most scandalized voice: "Mommy.... your parents did that. They freed a prisoner! Your brother is Prisoner Toad and your mom is the jailer's daughter!"

I laughed until I couldn't breathe while she described her visions of my brother being smuggled out of jail in a ladies' bonnet. Maybe tomorrow I'll explain that bail isn't exactly the same thing. It just seems like it.