We were walking in Causeway Bay and Maomao saw the sign of an adult store and got curious again. He said, “What do they sell in these adult stores, I always wonder.” I thought for a while, he’s getting on 12 now and I can’t say “candy with alchol in it that kids can’t eat” anymore like last time. So I said, “Stuff kids don’t need. Like detergent to wash your private parts.” And instantly regreted it cause what if he says kids need to watch their private parts too, then I would have no valid comeback. But he just said “Oh ok.” But he was apparent not done with that train of thoughts cause shortly after he said, “We learned it in the sex ed class that there is this thing called condom, maybe they sell those there too?” I was somewhat relieved and said, “yeah that makes sense.” and at the same time wondering what else he learned on this subject. But he chuckled a bit and said, “I never understand the point of a condom. You have sex so you can have a baby right? So why do you use a condom in which case you’ll have to do it again later?” As I was scrambling for an answer he then said, with apparent sarcasm in his voice, “do people just have sex for fun then?” I shrugged, “I wouldn’t know, there are crazy people out there.” And for that I actually didn’t have to keep a straight face.
Later on in the elevator he suddenly asked, “The other day on the bus two girls were arguing for a long time. Eventually a kid in the back yelled, ‘stop bickering! Go make me a sandwich!’, and everyone laughed. Why is that funny? What’s funny about making a sandwich?”
Moments like this make me want to not say anything but just give him a hug. And I and pray to some indefinitive higher force to let him keep his innocence a bit longer.
Wang Maomao 