only hamsters are sexy

I visited Ruby's dance class one windy afternoon and thought the warm-up song blaring from the portable disc player was a little risque for seven to eleven year olds. The hit single in question was Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl."

Ruby asked me what 'risque' meant. I said it was more appropriate for older kids, like 'grown up stuff' that had to do with how people behave, like dress-up, but different, sort of burlesque.

She asked curiously about that word, too. I said it was like a show where characters act in funny ways, sometimes to laugh at the things they do or are, yet seriously take on certain subjects (again) more for adult concerns.

She said that was cool. It reminded us of a hamster she noticed at a party with a coller around its neck which had a name on it that she spelled for me but wasn't sure she was allowed to say out loud. The word is s-e-x-y.

I explained only hamsters can be sexy. At this, of course, she laughed.