Jody

I have smart kids. I am certain it is because I insisted on eating chocolate throughout each of my pregnancies. Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, makes you smarter. Really, really dark chocolate (like 85% cocoa) makes you smart AND leaves no sugary aftertaste :-)

What, you may ask, makes me think the girls are so smart?
1. They studied snails
2. They dress up for Halloween as Sister Chromatids

When our house was broken into, the thieves stole three laptops and all my jewelry. Such is life, eh? Material possessions and all that? Well, sort of. From the time the girls were old enough to want to buy mommy presents, they've bought me silver hearts, for my charm bracelet. The bracelet was full of hearts, so full not many more would fit on it. Hearts with jewels, hearts with Pooh Bear, hearts with inscriptions from my girls to me. The thieves stole that bracelet.

I could not stop crying. I'd remained strong throughout the discovery of the break-end, tracking down the missing daughter (she was at a friend's),talking with the police, and even watching the guy hammer two-by-fours over my front door to hold it in place until it could be repaired. But when I discovered the charm bracelet was gone, I fell to pieces...

And the girls, amazingly enough, knew exactly what to do. They got out the video camera and did a CSI video, reenacting the crime. They "found" bugs at the scene of the crime and used their gestational stage to determine time of the crime; they rushed important evidence to their lab and used an icecream maker-cum-centrifuge to process the evidence. They even sang the song - who are you, who who, who who. Who are you, indeed...

We never found out who they were. And we never recovered any of the stolen items. But I never hurt again over that bracelet. Whenever I think of it, of any of it, I smile. The girls were smart enough to know that.

Jody is the smartest, and she truly should be a crime scene investigator. It is almost painful to go to a movie with her, if suspense is involved. Within five minutes, she will say nearly under her breath, "Oh geez, I can't believe it." DO NOT ask her what she means, or she will spoil the movie for you. Sixth Sense took her less than six minutes to figure out.

The latest example of this is Shadow Man by Cody FcFadyen. Jody is on page 11, and she just told me how the book will end. I am on page 433 and only know who done it because the detective in the book just solved the crime. Clearly, my mother needed to eat more chocolate.

Jody isn't going to be a crime scene investigator, however; she's going to be a talented writer and director. Wait and see...

Gray Danger