Chicanery

Several weeks ago little K-bao was nursing a loose tooth. One day, the conversation turned to the Tooth Fairy. K-bao remarked upon how "lucky" one of her former classmates was, whose Tooth Fairy was apparently "Soooooo generous," as compared to K-bao's stingy one (whose Fairy tight-fistedly doled out only $2 for K-bao's last canine).

That's when the idea struck.

"I know!" cried K-bao excitedly. "I'll trick the Tooth Fairy! I'll put an envelope under my pillow and pretend that my tooth has already fallen out. Then when my tooth actually comes out I can do it again!"

To no avail did K-Pop and K-Mum remind her about The Boy Who Cried Wolf; in vain did we discuss her long-term relationship with the Tooth Fairy and how she might feel and what she might do once she found out that the envelope was empty. All the grand biblical principles we shared about the importance of honesty and not bearing false witness was as much wind blowing in the air.

The fake envelope was created and sealed, with a devious little message: "Look for the tooth."

Unfortunately, the following morning, K-bao learned to her disappointment that the Tooth Fairy had not fallen for her little scheme. No piggies in the envelope.

Lo and behold, that very afternoon the loose tooth came out. And dutifully did K-bao place it in a sealed envelope, which went in its place under the pillow. The next morning, K-bao woke up to the following missive:

It turns out the Tooth Fairy wasn't born yesterday. "Ahhh," thought the K-folks with satisfaction. "Surely that one will sink in."

But wait! The little one wasn't done. Turning to Uncle Calvin, who was visiting, K-bao had the following exchange before breakfast was even on the table:

K-bao: "Hey Uncle Calvin, want to trade two of your dollars for this two dollar bill?" (not emphasizing, of course, that her bill appeared to be manufactured in a playroom somewhere and not the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing)
Uncle Calvin: "Well....uh....maybe. But I only have a twenty dollar bill."
K-bao: "That's ok. I'll take your twenty dollars."
Uncle Calvin: "Or actually...I think I have two single dollar bills."
K-bao: "Well in that case, I'll take those, but then I'll have to keep this fake two dollar bill."
Uncle Calvin: "......Wait, what?..."

Before we knew it, somehow the negotiations were completed and two real dollars were in K-bao's piggy bank, while Uncle Calvin was left holding the Tooth Fairy's colored paper.

#LessonFail

Commercial Instincts

K-Pop found out recently that K-bao had declared K-Mum recently her "bestie" (her "best friend," alongside her other faves at school such as Atenea, Milagros, Sienna, Alexandra etc.). K-Pop, while normally not so forward, felt he perhaps had rights to this exclusive club, and made a discreet inquiry about it this past weekend.

Sensing an opportunity, K-bao decided that this high end club clearly needed an entry price given the demand for admission. She ran off with a marker, a piece of paper towel and a head full of sparkly ideas. The below is what she came back with.

Yes, you saw correctly. The first paper reads: "Gold coins and stars and gold. Thank you." As I said, sparkly ideas. At least she had the manners to write Thank You at the end.

Then feeling she was perhaps set the price too low, she added a second piece of paper towel, which reads: "Pink and blue dress. A kitten. Love Kayla." The Love, Kayla perhaps was meant to soften the blow of a hard message.

Shocked and outraged by this act of pure commercialism, K-Pop launched into an extensive diatribe about how some of the best things in life cannot be bought or sold, and furthermore how one should think about things such as love and friendship. He then wrote the following list to drive home the message.

Of course, the numbers were just meant to be illustrative, because in reality they are so much more (even on a single semester basis!).