I'm Not Laughing

My niece who has been visiting for the summer approached me the other day and asked, "Is the stuff you write supposed to be funny? I've read some of it and I'm not laughing." "Well, which story did you read?" "I really can't remember, they were all soooooo boring." And having said this, my niece turned and walked away. My niece, who just turned 14, (Which probably explains a lot) is of this new generation that needs to be constantly in touch with something. It doesn't matter if it is the TV, the Internet, her cell phone, MySpace, Facebook, or Hannah Montana, all of these added up, and playing at the same time cannot erase the age-old adage of "I'm bored." So, what's Aunt MA Fat Woman supposed to do? A few days later we were taking a drive in the mustang and I headed over to one of our local state parks. My niece, who had brought her cell phone, ipod, and portable DVD player with her, looked around at the new surroundings and said, "I hate going outside." "Too bad," I said. "We're going to have some fun, and you can leave all of that junk in the car." "I'm bringing my cell phone." "No, you're not!" She rolled her eyes at me, stormed out of the car and threw herself onto a picnic table that was nearby. She crossed her legs and wanted to know what she was supposed to do. My response was nothing, I didn't want her to do anything, but sit there and enjoy the scenery. After a few tense moments of sighing, crossing and uncrossing of the legs, and the incessant tapping of fingers on the table, I could see and feel the tension being released from her body. As I waited for just the perfect moment to make my move. She threw out her arms and stretched languorously. Smack. I slapped the picnic table which caught her attention, and I pounced. I grabbed my niece and began to tickle her silly. I tickled her in the belly, grabbed some sugar from her knee, and somehow managed to wrestle her flip flops from her so I could get to her feet. I tickled her everywhere. "Stop it, Stop it!" she exclaimed. "You're killing me. I can't take it anymore." With tears of laughter streaming down both of our faces, I looked at her and asked, "Who's laughing now?" "Oh, Aunt fat woman, you always make me laugh, you're so funny and cool. I just can't let you know it. I have a reputation to uphold, you know?"(Everyone wants to be a comedian)