Vocabulary Lessons

     Lana, Vicky, Douglas and I were sitting in my bedroom--plotting. We were trying to decide who we would send into Mom's room to ask if we could go swimming at the base pool. Of course, the three of us girls wanted to send Dougie Paul. He was the youngest, the only boy, and--we were certain--Mom's favorite. We figured that if we sent HIM, we'd be at the pool within the hour!  In the end, Lana decided that we shouldn't send Douglas cos Mom would suspect that we had all conspired to manipulate her into taking us. If she DID suspect us, we knew she would shut us down--but quick! We put our heads together and the powers that be (aka, everyone except me) decided that it would be ME who would be sent in to ask Mom what was certainly the most important question of the day. 

     I'll admit that I was very hesitant about taking on such an important task. I was sure I'd muck it up. Eventually, though, I forced myself down the hall and into Mom's bedroom. "Mom? Umm...We were all kinda wondering if maybe we could go swimming a little later on today?" She responded immediately without looking up from the clothes she was folding. I was so excited by her answer that I ran down the hall, into the bedroom, and crowed triumphantly--my fist punching the air. Vicky and Douglas and I were jumping up and down gleefully. Our legs lost all their energy for jumping, however, when we heard Lana's next words. 

"She said, 'I doubt it?' That means we're not going!"