Highlight of my day

The other day I was overcome by a strange desire to clean. This doesn't often occur, so I gave in and cleaned my house until the feeling subsided.

Not only did I vacuum the living room floor, I spot-treated it as well. My heating and A/C vent had leaked a bit during the last storm, so I sprayed some carpet cleaner over the stain.

And to my amazement, spraying the carpet also revealed this:



That's right, a smiley face drawn INTO THE CARPET with a highlighter pen! And not just any smiley face, but Mark's signature smiley face -- the one he draws on his homework, his folders, any random piece of paper or junk mail he finds readily available.

I remembered seeing a highlighter pen on the nearby coffee table, but Mark's almost 10 years old now. I thought we were past the stage where random pens left out in the open become an open invitation for vandalism.

Apparently, I thought wrong. I immediately threw my head back and roared, "MAAAAAAAARK!"

Mark could tell I was mad, and he sauntered into the room running various scenarios in his head. He was trying desperately to figure out which one I was mad about.

I pointed to the carpet. Mark shrugged and asked, "What?"

"Look closer," I commanded, and finally he saw it. He picked this precise moment in time to finally keep his mouth shut.

I knew he was stalling. "Well?" I prompted.

"Well, what?"

"WHY did you draw on the carpet?"

He looked at me and very quickly said, "Grant did it."

Not only did he deny it, he blamed it on his 5-year-old cousin -- who lives two hours away, mind you.

"Seriously?" I asked him. "That's the best you can come up with -- 'Grant did it'?"

He nodded.

"I've personally watched you draw that smiley face on everything you own," I reminded him. I gave him another uncomfortably silent moment to fess up. He did not take it.

"You're sticking with the story that Grant did it?"

He nodded again.

"Well then, lucky for Grant he's not here." I handed over the bottle of carpet cleaner and a rag and ordered him to "Make that disappear."

I walked away, shaking my head, while Mark set about scrubbing forcefully at the smiley face. I figured punishment had been judiciously meted out, until I heard a grumbling and a spate of angry words that ended in "Grant!"

"Grant didn't do it!" I called out from the kitchen. "Let it go."

And as I watched him scrub away at the smiley face, I realized the next graffiti will probably not be quite as cheerful.