Shush, Listen: Whaat!

The order of magnitude may be 
reduced but it is an issue that is 
well-recalled and repeated, that
when a normally rambunctious home
suddenly seems eerily silent it is likely
time to search for the reason. When we
were young, it was three children whose
well-being and mischief prodded us
to tiptoe into a scene of quiet miscreant 
chaos to be faced by bewildered little
visages wondering what all the fuss is
about, offended when harm-inducing
objects were snatched from their naive
intentions. Now that we're old/er the
sudden realization that our house reeks
with another kind of mischief when all
is still though just moments earlier 
our ears were filled with raucous calls
and the staccato of short legs racing
about the house, that old alert is
resurrected. We simply exchanged
children for puppies, and it isn't the
little girl the impish one but her brother
never more fulfilled than when he 
impels her to join him in the huge fun
that erupts when they take forbidden 
possession of objects meant to be kept 
from their predation. When we creep 
around the corner to observe two little 
heads swivel in unison with expressions
ranging from defensive to contrite. Yet no
scolding infinitely repeated suffices to
persuade those black mites their antics 
are forbidden and must cease forthwith.