And this was even worse than An and Jan!

Yesterday's post chronicled my increasing irritation with the Vandervelde family and their accident-proned offspring. Yes I was annoyed with them, wanted to slap them, even, but at least they didn't make me cry!

I've been reading Charlotte's Web to the kids over the last week or so. And have been a little surprised-- forgot how often this book dwells on death. They threaten to turn Wilbur into bacon every third page or so, a fact which causes B's eyes to widen and small shivers to run through his body.

But I'd somehow forgotten just how sad the ending is-- and
Charlotte takes at least 8 pages to die. 8 LONG PAGES THAT I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT ON A DREARY DAY LIKE TODAY!

Why couldn't Charlotte have gone to see a specialist? If Wilbur was so terrific he could have tried CPR-- or at least contacted Hospice!

True to form, though, I was more upset by Charlotte's transition than the boys were. And as soon as we were finished we went back to reading about An and Jan. And today I actually didn't mind...