Word: agita

agita

\ AJ-i-tuh \  , noun;

1. Agitation; anxiety.

2. Heartburn; indigestion.

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             “Mom, Kevin kicked me!”  Sally shouted.

                “Did not!”  Kevin shouted, doing his best to shout louder than his sister did.  Their parents groaned at the pseudo argument their children had gotten into, which consisted mainly of very passionate calls of “Did not” and “Did too”.  This was the third such argument the kids had gotten into, and they had been only driving an hour.  And every single one of them had been due to something Kevin had or had not done.  The six year old boy adhered very strongly to the unspoken rule of being a younger brother:  Always do whatever it takes to pester, aggravate and ultimately annoy your older sister.

                 “Kevin, stop bothering your sister.”  Mary said from behind the driver’s wheel.

                “But I’m not doing anything mom.”  Kevin said, faked innocence coloring every word.  The car chose then to hit a disturbingly deep pot hole.  Kevin took that opportunity to lash out with both his legs, one of them aimed squarely at Sally’s. 

                “He did it again!”  The seven year old girl said.

                “Nuh uh, it was cause the car hit a bump.”  Kevin said triumphantly.

                “Kids behave.”  Adam said, turning back to his kids, “Don’t make your mother turn this car around.”  Somehow he managed to say it with a perfectly straight face.  Even though the kids arguing did a better job of annoying him than each other, he still had to find a way to make some kind of joke around it, even if it wasn’t very good.  Otherwise the two would drive him up a wall.  Most of the humor was lost on the kids, but Mary turned a brief, amusedly quizzical eye towards her husband before returning her gaze to the road.  His choice of words was not lost on her, even if it went over her children’s heads.

                “Okay.”  Both of them said sullenly.  While they did understand their father’s rather unique sense of humor, they learned long ago not to encourage him by acting dumb.  It seemed to work for the most part, but not all the time.  There were even times when it seemed like he made a joke just because they acted like they didn’t know it was one.  Still, they also knew when to keep still.  Or at least Sally did at any rate.  Holding still was still something Kevin had yet to master.  He was already planning things he could do to her even while restrained by the seatbelt and limited space he had to work with.  Still, he did manage to keep all his limbs to himself though for a good ten minutes.  He was about to make his move when Mary saw something that should keep even Kevin still, if only for a few extra minutes.

                “Who’s hungry?”  She asked, having seen a sign for a rest area coming up soon.  Both kids perked up at the mention of food, both voicing their desire to eat something.  Adam was not nearly as thrilled when he saw the options that this particular rest area had.

                “Do we really need to stop here?”  He asked quietly, “This place is like heartburn central.”

                “You don’t have to get anything if you don’t want to.”  Mary asked, equally quietly.

                “Dad, is heartburn when someone sets your heart on fire?”  Kevin asked.  Adam had no idea how his son managed to get such good hearing, since it certainly wasn’t for him.  The disturbingly vivid imagination was all him though.

                “It sure feels like it, but no.”  Adam said

                “Then what is it?”

                Adam fumbled with his words.  He had no idea how to explain heartburn to a six year old. 

                “Well you know how some foods are really spicy?”  Mary said, coming to her husband’s rescue as she pulled into the parking area.

                “Yeah.”

                “Well, heartburn is what happens when the rest of your body tastes spicy things like you mouth does.”

                Kevin seemed satisfied with the answer; although both his parents knew they would probably be seeing crudely drawn crayon pictures of various body parts eating Mexican food for the next few days.

                It only took a few minutes to get their food and pile back into the car.  Both Sally and Kevin had opted for a big name fast food meal, while their parents went for much simpler sandwiches and coffee.  As Mary drove off, the sounds of the two children eagerly eating their cheap greasy meals filled the car.  It was a much better option for the parents then listening to them arguing, so they were quite content with it.  The kids even managed to keep relatively still for quite awhile.  Adam even started to root around the car for a CD, which he would never have had a chance to do while dealing with the kids.  He had just found a good one and was about to put it in the stereo, when:

                “Mom, Kevin pinched me!”

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I'm sure every parent reading this has such fond memories of the days when their children's arguments consisted of two or three word sentences.  Good times for all, I'm sure.