“Ah nutmeg!” Meg shouted as she wiped mayonnaise off her blouse.

Liam smiled. “Why do you use ‘nutmeg’ as your swear word?”

“I don’t know.” Meg shrugged. Then, she thought out loud, “I suppose it’s because of my dad. He used to say ‘nuts’ as his word. Then, when I came around and started breaking things, he would say, ‘Ah nuts, Meg…’ Eventually, he shorted it to nutmeg. And it stuck.” She shrugged again. “I guess that’s it.”

Meg looked at her friend. “What about you, Liam? What’s your subsitute swear word. You’re so calm and you never get upset, so I’ve never heard it. Or do you even have a swear word?”

Liam rubbed the back of his neck. He smiled as he looked at his friend. “I used to swear a lot. Long before I met you.”

“You?! Do tell.”

“Yeah. I actually started in third grade. My friends and I tried it out on the playground. We got to be quite the experts out there. None of us swore at home though. Not until one day when I said the f-word. Mom ‘bout knocked me into next week. She said, ‘Next time I hear a potty mouth like that, you’ll get more than that. Soap cleans the mouth out too.’

“When my dad got home, he laughed when he heard the story. He said, ‘My pops used to ask me, “You kiss your mother with that foul mouth?” Then, he’d smack me upside the head.’ Then, Dad looked at me all serious. ‘Make sure I don’t need to whup you for havin’ a foul mouth.’ I swallowed hard as I looked from Dad to Mom. They didn’t need to tell me twice. I haven’t sworn since.

“But I was workin’ in the garage with my dad one day when he smacked his knuckles on the engine. He shouted, ‘Pigeons!’”

“Pigeons?”

“Pigeons.” Liam nodded. “So I asked him, ‘Is that your substitute swear word? “Pigeons?”’”

He looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah.”

“I didn’t say a word, but I musta looked confused. He said, ‘I hated pigeons. They were always around beggin’ for food and poopin’ all over the yard. I even had one poop on my shoulder when I came out of the house one day. It was standin’ on the gutter outside the porch waitin’ for me. I know it wasn’t really, but it seemed like it.’ So ‘pigeons’ was my dad’s swear word.” He smiled at Meg. “So it’s my substitute swear word too. Pigeons.”

Meg and Liam continued eating their lunch. Their friend, William, joined them. He was barely seated when Liam asked, “So what’s your substitute swear word?”

William looked from Liam to Meg and back again. He shrugged. “I don’t have one.” He took a bite of his sandwich.

Meg dug deeper. “Ah c’mon. You’ve gotta have one for when you’re with your parents or younger brothers.”

“No. I just say…” He paused with his sandwich poised for another bite. “Well, maybe I have one. But I’m not saying.”

“Ah c’mon. Meg’s is ‘nutmeg’ and mine’s ’pigeons.’ What’s yours.”

William looked at his two friends. He frowned. “Antartica.” He took another bite of his sandwich.

“Antartica? The continent?”

Meg joined in, “Penguins? Cold?”

William finished chewing and swallowed. “Yeah. Antartica. When I’m frustrated, I just say, ‘Antartica.’ Doggone Antartica.”

Meg said, “Explain.”

William shrugged. “My dad’s a research scientist, you know.”

Meg and Liam nodded.

“He’s studying climate change by taking core samples of the ice in Antartica. Mom and my brothers and I make due when he’s gone, but he’s gone lots. Usually just a couple months. But he’s been gone six months at a time once or twice. When I hear my mom crying, I hear her cursing Antartica. Like it’s my dad’s mistress instead of a frozen continent. So ‘Antartica’ is my swear word. Rather my substitute swear word. For when I’m with my brothers and my mom…” He grinned at his two friends. “…and you two.”

“Nutmeg.”

“Pigeons.”

“Sh…” William paused and looked into his friends’ eyes. “Antartica.”