Dina saw this on the floor of our bathroom last night and the following conversation ensued:
Dina: Is this the guy who did “Thriller”?
Me: Yup. That’s Michael Jackson.
Dina: (pausing to think, then) Did he die?…or go to jail?
Now, that statement is awesome in and of itself, but I feel that commentary is necessary to clarify her meaning here. Her tone was not indicating that it was definitely one or the other, as in “Okay, I know he did one of these, which was it?”, which would have meant that her voice went up on the first part of the clause and back down on the second. Rather, her inflection remained the same for both clauses, and though they were two separate questions, albeit related. As in “I know something happened to him in the news recently, and those are both things that would propbably be in the news about a person”. So, getting this from her tone, I asked,
Me: Why? Because you knew something big happened to him and you can’t remember what it was, and those are both big things?
Dina: Yeah.
Me: Yes, he died. But speaking of jail, now they’re saying he may have been murdered…by his doctor.
Dina: (very excited) You mean, his doctor mixed poison into his medicine?
Me: Yes, maybe.
Dina: Wow. I’m right about everything about him today!
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