one time stories

My sister has been talking about getting a dog lately.  Her talk of puppies reminds me of a funny story from my first year of teaching.

I was in the computer lab with one of my classes, and two boys who had just learned that they were half brothers were arguing about who was cuter.  Yes, for real.

Boy 1:  I'm cuter!
Boy 2:  No, I'm cuter!
Boy 1:  Miss, tell him who's the cutest!
Boy 2:  Yeah, it's me.  Right?!
Me:  I'll tell you what...I think you're both cute!
Boys 1 and 2:  Awww, come on Miss, you have to pick one of us!

At that moment, another boy turned to us, eyes lit up, and proclaimed...

Boy 3:  Miiisss!  One time my dog had 48 puppies!

Boys 1 and 2 looked at me and we all burst out laughing, which effectively ended the argument.  What?!  48 puppies?  Students are known to tell some tall tales while sharing their "one time stories," but this was probably the craziest one of all.