Great Expectations

Our neighborhood is currently experiencing extensive construction and relandscaping. Most of us are willing to handle the inconvenience in anticipation of a lovely renovated living space. James, however, hopes the construction never ends. We wouldn't be surprised if he is secretly sabotaging the work at night in order to make the construction last as long as possible. He spends at least 3 hours a day watching the workers from our back patio and yelling things like, "Go, Bobcat with tracks, go!" and "Watch out roller, here comes the dump truck!" On the weekends, when the heavy machinery sits idly in our backyard, James spends hours and hours climbing all over the diggers and jabbering about levers, pistons, buckets, and hydraulic rams. He often pleads, "Dad, I want to drive the digger/dump truck/Bobcat/Bomag/roller/cement mixer/crane." To which Paul replies, "Son, if you work hard in school and get good grades, you can drive a digger when you grow up."