“Shall we get cake?” Lily winked at me and nodded toward the table.
We were visiting her family. There were other people there too. We went over to the table, and as I stared, wondering what to choose, before Mom could say behind my back the dreaded line, “Sofia! No more sweets today!” I heard a giggle. Lily’s aunt was standing by the table, talking to a man. But somehow she was different. Giggle… “Is that so?”… giggle… “Oh, that’s interesting!”… another giggle.
“I think she’s flirting,” Lily whispered, glancing around to make sure no grown‑up “spies” were listening.
“Flirting?” I wondered. “The clowns at the circus do the same thing. Does that mean they’re flirting too?”
Lily’s aunt was still giggling, and the man was smiling back. I watched from the side, trying to understand why adults did things like that. “The circus clowns also laugh that way, but they do it to make people laugh,” I thought. “And the adults? They aren’t trying to entertain anyone – they’re just laughing for no reason.”
“Do you think it’s something serious?,” I said to Lily in a more serious tone, “like they’re planning something big?”
“Not exactly,” Lily replied with a smile. “They’re just flirting.”
“Is that like the circus show, when the clowns giggle and do funny things?”
We both laughed.
“Almost – but without balloons and hats.”
I stopped laughing and scratched my head. “Flirting,” I said to myself. “Do adults really think we don’t notice?”
The secret of the giggle was revealed.
I kept laughing.
Adults have their own mysteries – ones we kids understand but they don’t know we do. And they never will… at least, not today.