copyright © 2003 by Robert L. Blau

    Georgie, Donny, and Bobby were playing in the yard, when Georgie noticed a hornet nest in a tree a short stone's throw away.
    "Hey," said Georgie, picking up a rock, "I bet I can hit that."
    "Oh, let me do it!" cried Donny. "I'll knock it down with one throw!"
    "Gosh, I don't think you should do that," said Bobby.
    "What are you, chicken?" taunted Georgie and Donny as one.
    "I just think you should ask a grown-up before you do anything like that," said Bobby.
    "Oh, yeah?" sneered Georgie. "Well, I don't need nobody's permission to do nothin'!"
    "But it isn't nice to smash the hornets' home just for fun," Bobby protested. "My mom and dad told me that's mean, and nice people don't do things like that."
    "Phooey!" snapped Donny. "Those are bad insects.  They have stingers to hurt people.  A lot of stingers."
    "But they haven't done anything to you," Bobby pointed out.
    "Not yet," said Georgie. "But they will, unless we knock down that nest."
    "How about this?" Bobby suggested. "If you wait until fall, there won't be any hornets left in the nest.  Then you can do anything you like to it."
    "But that'll be too late," said Donny. "They'll sting us before then.  Anyway, I have some great rocks I want to throw, and I can't wait."
    "Well, there is just one more reason you shouldn't knock that nest down," Bobby persisted.
    "Oh, yeah?  And what's that?" sneered Georgie.  He was good at sneering.
    "Consequences," said Bobby.
    "What are consequences?" asked Donny.
    "Things that happen because you do something else," explained Bobby.
    "Ah, what conse... whatever?" scoffed Georgie.
    "F'rinstance, you might get stung because you knock down the nest, not because you don't," said Bobby.
    "Watch this!" cried Georgie, as he heaved his first stone.  It missed.
    "Hah!  Watch me!" said Donny, hefting a very large rock, indeed. "This is the Mother of All Rocks!"
    And he let fly.  The rock hit the hornet next dead center and sent it dropping to the earth.
    Georgie and Donny started strutting around Bobby with their chests thrust out.
    "Now whattaya say, scaredy-cat?" said Donny. " You thought we couldn't do it, but we did!"
    "Yeah, you sure look like a moron now!" sneered Georgie (again).
    "Um, I don't think I ever said you couldn't do it," said Bobby.
    ... two, three, four ...