the funny story

a long time ago Loopy and I went to the circus. Loopy was particularly excited to see a hippo that was advertised on the poster--the hippo would open its huge ginormous mouth and show all its teeth. She talked about this a lot in the days leading up to the circus.

But at the key moment on stage, the hippo opened its mouth and somehow Loopy wasn't looking! She missed it, after all that anticipation.

Periodically we talk about that sad event and how she missed the hippo's open mouth. That came up today because there was a smiling hippo on Cute Overload. Loopy then informed me that she had learned that hippos open their mouths wide like that when they want to show dominance, like if a new unfamiliar hippo or hippo family enters their territory.

I said it was funny to think of a whole family of hippos turning around and opening their mouths wide in response to an intruder. Loopy said she thought it was probably just the "alpha" hippo who did it, but I persisted in enjoying the image of a whole family of open-mouthed hippos.

Then the really funny thing occurred to me: what if people did that??? Can you imagine a human family turning around and opening their mouths really wide in response to a new person walking toward them?

I laughed for like five minutes. No, I'm not high. Maybe you had to be there.