Gort! Klaatu Barada Read!

INT. KITCHEN - MORNING

The digital clock above the double oven reads 10:01 AM.  JESSIE sits at the kitchen table busily coloring on white printer paper; surrounded by a mess of crayons and a Disney Princesses cup. DAD is standing at the kitchen island reading the Metro section of the Chicago Tribune. The paper lays amid food containers, cereal boxes, wrappers, unopened mail, and dirty breakfast plates.

The "Wonder Pets" theme plays loudly on the TV in the background.

Keeping her head down while continuing to color, breaking the silence she speaks assuredly.

JESSIE:

I'll know how to read when I'm six.

Distracted by the crappy extended weather forecast, the comment takes a few moments to sink in. Eyes cast downward he replies matter-of-factly.

DAD:

You are six.

Without looking up from her artwork, she too takes a few moments before replying.

JESSIE:

Oh yeah.

Not another word is spoken . . .

"Gort! Klaatu barada nikto" ~ Helen Benson, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)