We briefly went to the supermarket and got the things from the shopping list, and now we were finally driving home again. My ten-year-old son was sitting in the passenger seat and playing Super Mario on his Switch. He had helped me work through the list at the supermarket, but during the drive back he stared at the rectangular display the whole way and was barely responsive. That's just the way zombie youth is today, always staring at some display, be it the cell phone or the portable game console.

While the plumber bounced from task to task on the colorful display, I concentrated on the road. A cold beer in a minute, I thought, looking forward to a quiet evening.

"Dad, what's a brothel?"

"What?"; I asked, staring at my son. He, on the other hand, continued to look at the Switch and didn't even seem to realize how much he had caught me off guard with his question.

"What's a brothel?" he repeated his question calmly, making the plumber jump over several gullies.

"W-what? ... Where from? How? Where did you get that from?", I stammered out. Honestly, I had no idea how to explain it to him.

"It was written on the house across from the supermarket" he replied. "It was a house with red lights."

"Okay," I said, and that was all I could get out of him. How was I supposed to explain to my ten-year-old son what a brothel was? Was I supposed to claim that I didn't know myself? Not very pedagogical, but I thought he was still too young for the truth. No, I had to find the middle.

"Um ... it's kind of like a hotel," I started, "where you go, but there are other people in the rooms already. Mostly women." Wow, I thought, what a bullshit explanation. I should have said I didn't know after all, but now it was too late.

"Okay," it came back from my son.

"Okay?", I asked, confused. Somehow I had expected more.

"Do you want to go together next time?" he asked, looking at me questioningly.

"Uh ... W-w-what?", I stammered. Somehow I had expected more than just a quick 'okay', but I wasn't expecting that much also. What a crazy evening ...