Silence Is Golden

My Dad often said, "children should be seen and not heard!" So my sister, brother and I would sit before him not saying a word We stare at him and mimic his each and every action Trying to stifle our giggles while trying to get a reaction He yawn and three children would yawn in quick succession Three sets of raised eyebrows mimicking his facial expression He sniff, change positions, lick his lips or scratch his arm Three quiet little monkeys copycatting with unique charm This would go on for quite some time until Dad could take no more In a booming voice he say, "get upstairs" and we'd dash to the second floor We barely make it up the stairs before collapsing in fits of laughter Elated we elected a response from dad, the triumph we were after After we exhausted ourselves of giggles and could keep a straight face Down the stairs we go and once again in front of him we take a place We could tell Dad was also doing his best not to smile and to snicker The game would begin anew, until laughter threatened to flicker.