Orange Juice

The best thing about breakfast is the cereal. The second best thing about breakfast is the orange juice. Cereal is actually good anytime of day or night. Orange juice, on the other hand, is good only in the morning. Somewhere around 10:30 a.m. orange juice goes out of fashion and Diet Coke comes in.

My oldest daughter, Maddie Rae doesn't seem to understand that simple rule of beverage consumption. As a matter of fact, last night at dinner, well after the 10:30 a.m. cutoff, she violated it.

Halfway through dinner, Maddie decided that she needed a drink, so she marched over to the refrigerator and retrieved the last carton of orange juice. Then she set it down on the table right next to me before pouring the last few swallows into her glass. I, of course, assumed that there was an endless supply of OJ in the garage fridge like there usually is, so I chose to overlook her transgression. "Maddie, that's the last of the orange juice," Mommy said. "What's Daddy going to have for breakfast?"

She took a great big sip, smacked her lips, looked up at me with an OJ mustache, and said, "I don't know. I guess we're out." Shocked at the thought of not having any orange juice in the morning, I gave her my best incredulous look as I began brainstorming possible consequences for her behavior. She giggled and kept the guilty grin on her face, but was quick to come up with a solution. "I'll tell you what," she began. "I will make you some fresh orange juice if you promise to be good." 

"Me be good? What about you?" I began. Then I started thinking about the orange juice and it hit me that we had a tree full of oranges in the back yard, so the odds were actually in my favor that this little idea of hers might actually bear some fruit. 

"What exactly do I have to do to be good?" I asked. 

She thought for a minute then said, "You have to take me to In-N-Out for my birthday."

I thought abut that for a moment. Since her birthday was last month, I'm sure I'll get her to In-N-Out long before her next one rolls around. "Done," I said knowing a good deal when I saw one. 

Now here it is morning and as soon as I publish this post I'm going to head over to the pantry and pour a bowl of cereal and a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice...if only Maddie Rae had lived up to her end of the bargain. Actually what I think I'll do is pour myself a glass of grape juice and pretend it's fresh squeezed orange juice. Then I think I'll take myself to In-N-Out for lunch and not invite any little girls.