With all the children coming in and out of my household, it is hard to forget there was a time when children did not live with me. Before my husband and I married, we were alone, so to speak. His best friend, Bill, lived with us. He was an adult – technically.

Travis and I would regularly take my little sister, Kate for the weekend. My father, who commuted to Portland daily, would drop Kate off on a Thursday or Friday and pick her back up on a Monday. There did not need to be a special occasion for the visit. She liked to come over, and we loved to have her. At three, she was not so moody as she is now at thirteen.

Kate has a special bond with Travis. She adored him. Nothing Travis could do would diminish her worship of him, or his best friend, Bill. Wherever they went, so went Kate. It was during this toddler hood that Kate started calling Bill Uncle Dummy. Apparently, Dummy was a nickname Travis used for him when she was around, instead of something bad. Therefore, Bill became Uncle Dummy, and to this day, the name has stuck despite my effort to eliminate it.

It was on one of these visits that Travis learned the power of peanuts on a toddler, as well as the consequences for not paying attention to her at all times. I had gone to work, as usual, leaving Travis, Kate and Uncle Dummy home to play until I got back. At least, that is what was supposed to happen.

Around one o’clock I got a call at work.

“Shell! You have to come home right now” Travis’s voice was frantic. Something was definitely wrong. My first thought was that Kate had to be taken to the hospital.

“What happened, Travis? Is everything okay?”

“She exploded and I don’t know what to do. You have to come home now!”

Exploded? My mind started racing. “Exploded? What the hell are you talking about?”

“We were playing video games and I guess she ate half a bag of peanuts. I don’t know I was playing a game, but the next thing I know there is shit EVERYWHERE! Come home now!”

“It’ll take me an hour to get home on the bus, not to mention I have a meeting starting in twenty minutes with a new client. Tell me what happened.”