Why it's hard

This conversation took place while my mom was in her office and my dad and I were in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner.




My dad walks out into the living room for a second.
Dad: Who threw away my pinecone?
Mom: I don't know what happened to your pinecone. I didn't throw it away. Maybe Andrew did something.
Me: I didn't throw away your pinecone.
Me, remembering I did actually throw away a pinecone about a month ago: Wait, you're just talking about a regular pinecone?
Dad: Yes. It was a pretty big one.
Me: When did you last see it?
Dad: Oh, sometime last spring.
Me: Well I may have thrown it away about a month ago.
Dad, disappointed: Ok.
Me: Why were you saving that?
Dad: I wanted to make a button for my Peruvian sweater. It's missing a button. It has pinecone...leaves, or whatever...as buttons.
Me: Can't you just go get another pinecone under a tree somewhere?
Dad, as if he spends all his time looking for pinecones: Well I'll just keeping looking.
Me:...
Dad: It was a nice big one.

Turns out the pinecone is still there, sitting kinda near the fireplace. I didn't throw it out. Probably thought about it. And the sweater will be complete again.