Pandemonium is in the eye of the beholder

Benjamin descended the stairs and asked his brother, "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know," Mason answered, his head buried in a video game.

I called out from an adjacent room, letting both boys know where I was, and also replied that Mom was outside, walking Ruby.

"Oooooohhhhhhh," Benjamin said, in a resonant fashion."So that's why it is so quiet down here."

(This was from the boy who minutes earlier was providing our Sunday-morning, newspaper-reading soundtrack by singing a medley of "We Will Rock You" and "Pants on the Ground.")