"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." (Clemenza to Rocco in The Godfather, 1972)
"Aidan, you are wasting the paper," Madeline said as she watched him grab more paper to complete his paper airplane.
"No, I'm not," replied Aidan. "I'm making airplanes."
"Yes, you are and the animals won't have anymore places to live if you keep wasting the trees. Paper comes from trees you know," Madeline said.
"I know that, Madeline, but there are plenty of other trees in the world. There are enough trees for the animals to find new homes," Aidan said.
"Oh, like the rainforest?" Madeline asked.
"Yeah, the rainforest is a great place to find a tree to live in," Aidan said.
There was a moment of quiet before the conversation took a slightly different direction.
"Lily, you should not pet lions," Madeline said.
"Yeah, never pet a lion," Aidan agreed. (Finally, they agree on something!)
"What about turtles?" Lily asked.
"Well, turtles have eggs," Aidan said.
"Yeah, and turtles have babies: turtle babies!" Lily said, tickled with herself.
"And there are turtle families in the sea," Madeline said.
"They're COOOOT," Lily said. "Baby turtles are cooooot." She started laughing as if she had said the funniest thing in the world.
"Wow, those are cool rocket ships, Aidan," Madeline said, looking over Aidan's work.
"They are not rocket ships. They are paper airplanes," he replied.
And in my head I imagine Madeline, in her rough, squeaky voice, sagely saying: Save the trees. Don't pet the lions.
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