“Roast for dinner?” Pearl asked, looking at the meat in the pan surrounded by veges. “Beef?… lamb?”
“Yes, beef,” I replied, just as she continued, “I don’t think it’s pork or chicken.”
“So cow,” she decided.
“Well, probably a steer, actually,” I remarked, and she looked at me quizzically.
“Doesn’t beef come from cows?”
“It comes from a cattle beast, yes, but mostly cows are kept for milk, and bulls or steers are kept for meat.”
I half-expected a question about bulls vs steers, and mentally prepared myself, but instead she said, “So… cows are girls and bulls are boys, right?”
“That’s right.”
“So… what are they? I mean, you have men and women and together they’re humans, so what are cows and bulls together?”
“Cattle,” I repeated.
She rolled her eyes, a skill she is ever-improving upon. “That’s just confusing. Why don’t we just call them all cows?”
“In that case, why don’t we just call all people women?” I countered.
She paused, and a gleeful light came into her eyes.
“That would be… AWESOME!”
© UpsideBackwards 2015.
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