It begins when a little girl-child comes home from school with a new word she has learned. It's 'bumhead' and she knows how it should be used. 'I hate you! You're a bum head.' And so on. Here's where child-rearing philosophy comes into play. How do you deal,with it? Ignore it? Act shocked? Gently point out to the child that it's not a nice thing to say? Tell her she'll go to hell if she says it again? The possibilities are endless.
I don't know how this family dealt with it but chapter 2 begins when the family goes to their shack for a holiday. Apparently the holiday home area has a tradition of making scarecrows to amuse other residents, so grandma says, 'Let's make a bumhead scarecrow,' and so a bumhead scarecrow appears on the lamp post outside the shack.
Before long, bumhead disappears. He has been stolen! It seems he has been pinched by the postman, a public servant with a very good reputation. Grandma, the bossy one in the family storms off to see the postman. 'Did you steal bumhead?' She says. 'Yes, I did,' says the postman. 'Why,' asks grandma, 'were you offended by the name?' 'No,' replies postie, 'I'm offended by the implicit homophobia in the idea of the scarecrow. We have homosexuality in my family and I believe you were poking fun at the gay community.'
You can't win, can you?
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