House Rules

by Jodi Picoult

And before I know it, I am laughing so hard I cannot catch my breath. Because when you get right down to it, it’s funny when I ask my son, How did you sleep? And he answers: On my stomach. It’s funny when I tell Jacob I’ll be there in a minute and he starts counting down from sixty. It’s funny that Jacob used to grab my collar every time I came home, his interpretation of ‘catch you later.’ It’s funny when he begs for a forensics textbook on Amazon.com and I ask him to give me a ballpark figure and he says, Second base. And it’s funny when I move heaven and earth to give Jacob white food on the first of the month and he breezily pours himself a glass of Coke.