A good story

Reading with Theo is quite entertaining. Every story is played out in his little body. When good things happen, he laughs uproariously. When it gets tense he starts fidgeting madly, picking at this fingernails or even toenails, wringing his hands, gasping. And when something bad happens his little face crumbles and he cries out. Watching his face is amazing- he draws his lips in, his mouth becoming a cave, his eyes sparkle with tears, and he seems to lose two inches of height, even though he is usually lying down in bed while we read. Tonight, we were getting some foreshadowing that in the upcoming third book of the Unicorn Chronicles the evil Hunters might find their way into Luster and do damage to the good Unicorns. Theo crumbled. Started gasping. It just so happened that Eli happened into the room in that second, having finished book number 365 of the day and was heading toward the ladder and up to his bunk. He heard me trying to explain to Theo that every good story needed some kind of tension, that all good all the time was boring. Eli, without a moment's hesitation says, "....and the unicorns lived in a valley of daisies. They spent their days making flower garlands and drinking fruit cordials....the end. I hope you liked our story brought to you from Pretty Pony Productions." I guffawed at the mention of cordials. How DOES he come up with these words? It did the trick and brought Theo out of his near hysteria. Then Eli climbed up into the bunk and started whispering more of his conflict-free tale ".....hello my dear Mrs. Lightfoot, would you like some of my sparkling pear cordial, it has been fermenting for twelve years...." Man, that kid can use words in a way that boggles my mind. I'm off to the hallway to see if I can catch more of his tale. Who says that conflict free is boring? 12 year old cordials? Things are about to get exciting.