Keepin' It Real

The scene: our breakfast table, oh-dark-thirty
The characters: wide awake, inquisitive, verbose Luke and extremely tired mommy

"Why is that dog on the front of the paper?"
"He died" (no need to couch it, let's be honest, right?)
"Died?!"
"Yes, died. All dogs die eventually."
Gasp! "Even our dog?"
"Yes."
"Will we get a new one?"
"Maybe. We'll be sad for a while, then we'll get a new one." (I'm sure he's headed for therapy at this point).
"Can he come back again after he dies?"
"Nope. Only Jesus did that."
"Well, what about papa's brother? He came back, I saw him."
This is when I realized that he couldn't grasp the concept of my dad having more than one brother. Hmmm...if we're confounded by number of relatives, how do we even attempt the really fun stuff like eternity?
"Papa Dave has 3 brothers, one in heaven and 2 here."
"Here? Where?"
"Well, not here. They live in Colorado. That's another state." This day is just getting longer and longer by the minute.
"Colorado. Oh, okay, got it."
He moves off to the couch with his chocolate milk. I return to my coffee and newspaper.
"What happens when you die?"
Did I mention it is maybe 6:15 in the morning? Unbelievable. I decided to be realistic, yet simple.
"Well, we believe that you either go to heaven or someplace yucky." I couldn't bring myself to delve into H-E-double hockey sticks. Perhaps after lunch, when I'm feeling a bit more perky.

"Someplace yucky? Where is it?"
"I don't know, I've just heard it is yucky."
"Hmm. I'll ask dad when he gets home, maybe he knows."
"Yes, let's ask dad."

"Mom, could we ask God for another baby?" Coffee nearly spews from my mouth.

That's our Lukester. Just keepin' it real.