Imperfect Understanding

It's been a while since we've had a truly funny misunderstanding, since Charlie's sign is getting so good. The tables are usually turned these days--it's me who doesn't always understand what he's saying.

But tonight was a good one. I was grilling some chicken on my Big Green Egg (if you don't know what that is, check out www.biggreenegg.com) and my parents had stopped by, not to eat but to sit and gab a while before they left on a trip and watch us eat. I told Charlie to find some veggies in the ref (refrigerator) and cook 'em up to go with the chicken since the chicken was almost done. He said okay and disappeared into the house.

A couple of conversations later, the chicken was done, so I went into the house to see how the veggies were coming along. Kitchen is empty. No Charlie, no veggies.

Checked the videophone. Nope, he's not chatting on that.

There's a light on in the basement. I flashed the lights from our level to get his attention, and he comes to the bottom of the stairs where he can see me. "I thought I told you to find and cook some veggies?" He got this stricken look on his face and signs "sorry" and runs into the utility room to get a bag of veggies out of the freezer. Told him too late, we were going to eat just chicken. So he gets his plate and we load up on chicken and start eating, when he confesses, "I thought you said 'get some fruit or veggies to go with the chicken' so I got some strawberries and took them downstairs to eat them while I was waiting for my chicken."

My mother just about choked on her glass of wine at that one.