Herding Her Daughter Out Of The Store

(My mother and I are clothes shopping, when I notice a comic book store has opened. Being a massive geek, I have to go check it out. My mother, who is tolerant but not at all interested, follows reluctantly. Her hobby is equestrian-eventing and she always refers to the horses affectionately as ‘ponies.’ I walk into the store and immediately end up chatting with the cashier, because she is wearing a ‘Doctor Who’ t-shirt, and she has a sonic screwdriver on her belt. My mother is wandering around the store poking things for about three minutes, and then comes to stand behind me.)

Mother: *in a whisper* “I like ponies.”

(I ignore and continue chatting to the cashier.)

Mother: *a bit louder* “I like ponies.”

Me: “Okay, Mom, let me just find [issue of Doctor Who comic], and then we’ll be off.”

Mother: *following me through the shelves* “I like ponies!” *louder* “I like ponies!”

Me: “Ah here it is; let me pay and we can leave.”

Mother: *almost yelling* “I like ponies!”

(I go back and chat with the cashier, while she rings up the comic and finds the name of another series we’d talked about.)

Mother: “I LIKE PONIES! I. LIKE. PONIES!”

Cashier: *laughing uncontrollably* “I take it you’re the household geek-a-freak?”

Me: “You have no idea.”

Mother: “PO-NIES!”