"but not Guido, right Mom?

As I've mentioned, Son is very literal.
for example, say something to him like " I don't think she heard me, I think there's carrots in her ears." The child will go and inspect his sister's ears, and ask why she would possibly want carrots in them.

When we had first arrived in CO, I opened a bank account. On the day I received my card, the truck needed gas. So we go to the bank, activate the card.

Go to a nearby gas station, pump $78. of gas into my big, mean, green, gas, guzzlin machine.

For some reason the pump tells me to see the cashier.

ugh. Isn't the "pay at the pump" supposed to annihilate the need for this?

I go in, and the cashier tells me my card was denied.

oh hell no.

I call the bank, standing with the kids in a teeny weeny service area.

hold.. hold... hold... finally get someone and it gets ridiculous, of course.

I was on the phone for almost 40 min.

Finally I tell the cashier, who I have been talking to while on hold, seems pretty nice, he can appreciate the frustration for me (plus he wants his money) that I can run to the bank and be back in 15 minutes with the money. I promised I'd be back.

He agrees, and we joke about me leaving one of the kids, then we joke about him sending "Guido" after me.

So it's good , right?

We get back into the truck and head for the bank.

Son sits up and says "Mama, who's Guido?"

Oh boy.

"Um. Well, in Italian families, Guido is a name. And back in old times, someone could borrow money from an Italian family. If they didn't pay it back on time the family would send someone to ,uh, get the money. Somehow that guy is always called Guido. Its kind of a joke. "

"So does he really know a Guido Mama?"

"I don't know honey, it's possible, he said he had a big family. "

" What does Guido do if the person doesn't have the money to give back?"

oh. I was afraid of that one.

"Well, now remember this was a long time ago that they did things like this . If the person didn't have the money, they got a warning. then Guido would come again, and if they still didn't have the money he'd hurt them a little. and every time he had to come back, he'd hurt them a little more. Wasn't a very nice job. "

"Is that guy gonna send Guido after us ?! "

"no Son. He is not going to send Guido after us, because we are going to bring him his money for the gas. No guido. "

"Mama, you're Italian. do you know Guido? "

Pulling all the stops today aren't we Son?

"Sure I do- you're my lil Guido. I tell W you're my lil knee-popper all the time."

(Son is dubbed the Knee-popper because he is small for his age, and tends to have perfect height for swings at kneecaps. and he knows it)

We get back to the gas station, pay the bill, plus a few drinks.

Every so often, if I'm in the area I'll stop in and get a drink or gas from this station. Of course, I get alot of joking around.

The kids have been in with me twice since that first trip.

Now every time I need gas in the truck, Son announces " I hope we don't go see Guido."