Katherine spent yesterday contemplating the insides of things.

K: What does it look like inside a car?
Messy. Lots of wires. Big hunks of metal and pipes.

Where does the gas go?
Into the gas tank.

How do we put it there?
With the pump at the gas station.

How does it come out again?
The pipes in the car take the gas to the engine…. (insert long and complicated description of internal combustion engine workings).

Can you show me how a car works?
Not right now.

Oh. John will show me when he gets home, because John knows about these things.
(Funny child. Never mind that engine description I just finished giving her….)
I’m sure he will.

What does it look like inside a light bulb?
easy answer – grab dead transparent monofilament bulb and broken florescent and show her

No, inside where the light bulb goes. Up there. (points at fixture)
Lots of wires connecting a light socket to the main electrical circuitry of the house.

What does a house look like inside?
Rather like this….. (waving arms around).

No, I mean, inside under the walls.
Oh. There are boards and nails that make a frame that give structure and support to the house. There are wires for the phone and electricity. The walls go on on top to cover it all over.

Oh.
(Thinkity, thinkity, think……)
How do I work?
What do you mean exactly?

How do I move and grow?
Well, you eat food and breath air that your body changes into energy. The energy and nutrients from the food along with the air are used to make little tiny cells. The cells all stick together in the right places and make tissue and the tissue makes things like bones, muscles and skin. The more tissue your body makes, the bigger you get. The rest of the energy is used by your body to make you move.

What are the bones and muscles like?
They’re like the wood and wires inside a house, really, except they move and houses aren’t supposed to.

Insert arrival home of John and the usual chaos that ensues. Then…..

K: John! John! John! I live in a Katherine Erica Anne house inside me! Can you show me how the car works inside? We can open it up and see where the gas goes! Can we take the walls off the house and look at the wood underneath?

Ah, the tranquil oasis of home to which the working man returns at the end of a 12 hour day…..