Marla: Hey! Boo Boo! Whatcha doing?
Boo Boo: Shush.
Marla: (Quiet for a minute)
Marla: Why? Why am I being quiet? Are you about to catch a mouse?
Boo Boo: Sssssssshhhhh.
Marla: (In a loud whisper) OOOH! I get it - the mouse is between the oven and the dishwasher! Good kitty! Do you know that Chinese proverb? “Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it's a good cat.” That one! Good Boo Boo!
(Boo Boo suddenly, yet languidly and without explanation walks away and heads upstairs...)
(Marla enters the kitchen, looks between the oven and dishwasher and sees nothing, then heads upstairs after Boo Boo)
Marla: So, um, did you scare the mouse away or something?
Boo Boo: What mouse?
Marla: Weren't you stalking a mouse in the kitchen? Why did you tell me to shush? What was that all about?
Boo Boo: Oh. That. I was just playing mind games. And I wanted you to be quiet. That's all.
Marla: (Quietly digests this)
Marla: (Opens mouth to retort)
Boo Boo: Not so fast. You have nothing to complain about, really.
Marla: I heartily disagree. I believe I gave you an undeserved compliment. You know...the one about catching mice and being a good kitty?
Boo Boo: Can you prove that there never was a mouse?
Marla: (stammers) Well - you let me think...you said you were...and the....
Boo Boo: If we are going to be lobbing proverbs back and forth, I'll counter you with an old German one: “The cats that drive the mice away are as good as they that catch them”.
Marla: (Digests that momentarily) Boo Boo, do I really need to whip out the one about flies and honey?
Boo Boo: Do you mean the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra quote "Make yourself honey and the flies will devour you?"
Marla: (Heads back downstairs mumbling something about vermin coming in all shapes and sizes)
Boo Boo: Because I like that one. And hey...with the way you're talking about me right now, you might want to think about how you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, you know.
Boo Boo: (mumbles, drifting off to sleep) "Now I believe I can hear the philosophers protesting that it can only be misery to live in folly, illusion, deception and ignorance, but it isn't -- it's human." (Desiderius Erasmus)
