Trombone

Eleven-Year-Old Tony was sailing through the final pages of a kid-friendly Neil Armstrong biography during our reading lesson this evening when his cadence hit a snag.

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "…and then Neil joined the marching band where he played the tro…tro…tro…"

Me: "Trombone."

Eleven-Year-Old Tony (slapping the table): "Damn it, Corey! I had it!"

Me: "I'm sorry, Eleven-Year-Old Tony. It won't happen again."

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "It better not!"

A pause.

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "What's Neil Armstrong doing with a trombone, anyway?"

Me: "I know. It's kinda dorky, right?"

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "It's not that. I just thought that only girls were allowed to play the trombone."

Me: "That's not true at all. Boys can play the trombone just as well as girls can. Sometimes better."

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "Oh. When my Mom caught me playing with the box of trombones that she keeps underneath the bathroom sink, she told me that I should never touch them again because I'm a boy."

Me: "Eleven-Year-Old Tony, I think you're getting trombones confused with tampo..."

Eleven-Year-Old Tony: "I can't wait to tell her that Neil Armstrong used trombones all the time when he was a kid."