MONDO EXTRAS

At this point in the interview, three-year-old M. Small, who is supposed to be asleep, comes downstairs with the urgent bulletin that he has just crapped his PJs. I apologize to my interview subjects and attempt to continue the interview while changing his diaper. Might as well have a parent and child on both ends of the phone, right?

Lori: I remember those days.

M. Small: Who's that?

MG: That is Sophia, and her mom Lori, who Daddy watched on TV while Mommy was putting you to bed. [to Sophia] So, you said pretty much everyone in the Green district ran for Town Council in that election?

Sophia: Well, maybe not everyone. But I mean, Michael did, I did, Laurel did.

Lori: Kennedy did, didn't she?

Sophia: Yeah, Kennedy did. So that's four out of the nine people that were left.

MG: So they just edited it so that there was just one candidate challenging each Council member?

Sophia: Right.

Lori: They also have to format it into forty to forty-five minutes.

MG: So how long were those Town Council meetings, for real?

Sophia: It depended. Once we were sitting there for five hours.

MG: Wow.

Sophia: It was pretty awful. Other times, generally, an hour and a half, two hours. Everything on the show is a lot longer than it seems.

Lori: The one that I sat in on was two or three hours.

MG: I can imagine, with all the parents.

Lori: It was torture.

MG: Lori, did you ever get interviewed on camera? Were you expecting to?

Lori: Yes, they interviewed all the parents when they came to our homes for about ten minutes, or fifteen minutes. And I guess they didn't use that too much. Sophie, did they interview me there?

Sophia: I think so.

Lori: They must have. Yeah, they must have asked me some questions there also.

M. Small: Who's that?

MG: That's still Lori and Sophia. Daddy's talking to them.

M. Small: Why?

MG: Daddy's picking their brains and asking all sorts of nosy questions. [To the interview subjects] He's three and we're trying to get him to bed at a reasonable time, but he's not always up for it. [To the child] Come back here!

Lori: [laughs]

MG: Say, "Goodnight, Lori and Sophia."

M. Small: Goodnight, Sori-ophia!