Late this afternoon, a young man and his father were in a store collecting a few things for a forthcoming pal�s birthday.

After blasting about and getting everything we were in need of�we dashed to the front of the store to find a long line and a single cashier. The gentleman in front of us was clearly in hurry-mode and trying not to be upset. You could see a tangible shift in future coloration of wording when he noted the seven weeks from six-year-old fellow with YerSauce. His eyes met mine and there was a barely perceptible nod.

So, as he took a deep breath, the man noted that, �Situations like this? They just take the cake.� Before DaDiarist could respond a ginger-haired-lad asked him if that meant he had won a dance comma-TI-shun.

The fellow looked askance, and carefully got lower and asked, �What do you mean by that little man?�

Looking him straight in the eye� [Wait. Digression. We have a new rule�as they float in when the last major rule is learned pretty well by the youngest guy in household DaSauce--and as such it is barely working as yet. The rule is that: Paying attention means looking at someone in one eye or the other�and you can switch eyes to amuse yourself�but DaBoy knows that he SHOULD look someone in the eye when talking to them so they take him seriously and he gives them the respect they deserve. Digression ends.] So, looking the gentleman directly in an eye, my little boy said, �You said, this just takes the cake. And do you mean something like Cake-Foot or Cakewalk? I mean, your generations family waaaay back prolly did the Cakewalk making fun of those bad slave owners who had folks like you with more melanin�� He let off looking confused.

The gent, looked at me seriously, and turned back to my son. �What do you know about Cakewalks, young man?�

�Well, it was a dance sort of. A rude dance. But the folks that gave out the treats to the winners didn�t know it was rude. Basic-A-Lee? It was making fun of their silly dances and they didn�t know it was mean. I mean, you can�t really be mean to someone who hurts you every day and takes away your everything so you have to follow the drinking gourd on the underground railroad jus� to get away and get up to where they can�t catch you and you might find MORE free. Cake-Foot was der right foot Die-ah-gun-alley? And� I�.� And again my son sputtered to a confused stop.

The fellow looked back at me with a combination of amazement and�.

Damn. This one is hard. Rare that an IdiotBoy like meself can�t come up with a word. He wasn�t bewildered and amused�thus bemusement doesn�t fit. He was shocked, but that is covered by amazement.

Maybe deeply wary with light respect mixed in? DaSauce guy was thinking that it felt absurdist hearing a little boy of my son�s age describe the stuff that his pop had so carefully explained while listening to cool flavors of Follow The Drinking Gourd (as off of the album Shakin� A Tailfeather from Music For Little People�with Taj Mahal, Linda Tillery, Eric Bibb and so forth? He was adding in a shake of Louis Jordan music discussions about the word Cake-Foot, blues legends including Taj singing about taking a cakewalk into town and mixing his own version?)

It seemed as if the fellow was now looking around for the punch line sort of� He seemed tense and ready for someone to tell him he was on Candid Camera.

But, he turned back to my son. �That�s where the word comes from, I�d guess, YOUNG MAN.� He added another odd look at me. �How do you know all this?�

My son looked troubled. �I don�t know it REALLY� I just know that dad tells me about stuff when I ask. And you said �takes the cake.� And that seemed like someone just won it and you have A LOT OF MELININ and won�t burn in the sun as much as me because I am pink and you are brown, and I just thought it might be what you was talking �bout?�

He asked my son if he liked music.

The lad answered, �I really like music, and I want to listen to loud rock-n-ROLL but dad says no not now, and we listen to lots a stuff and dad says that music that makes you feel good and makes you think are the best kinds of music for me now that I am five and three quarters and change. And I like music a LOT. And we sing. We sing in the car. We sing in the house. We just like to sing.�

By this moment it was the guy�s turn in the line. He continued to look thoughtful but troubled. He moved his goods to the check out.

My son moved into trying really hard not to touch the point of purchase displays around us and failing but realizing that he was touching stuff he shouldn�t and stopping. But he was busy.

The guy finished paying� And he looked at me, and said, �Man. You take the cake. You really do. And your kid? He can have ALL OF THE CAKE.�

He shook my hand and left.

--DaSauceOfAmazedByLittleHumans

PS. Was Lilith a demoness or what? *Wink*