Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A magical apology?

My mom was talking to my six-year-old nephew, Ben, today about how he is going to be Merlin the Magician for Halloween. As is the case with most conversations between my mom and Ben, this one proved to be a bit of magic itself:

Ben: [seriously] You know, Dearsie - if you snap your fingers really hard, you CAN make things disappear.
Mom: Just by snapping real hard?
Ben: Yes - that's what magicians do.
Mom: Well - if you snap YOUR fingers real hard, can YOU make stuff disappear?
Ben: No - but real magicians can.
Mom: Oh. Well, magicians also cut people in half. You know - where you put the girl in the box and then you saw her in half and you pull the two sides of the box apart and her head goes with one side and her feet go with the other?
Ben: Yeah. I could do that. [Gets very serious] But . . . I'd be afraid I'd mess up.
Mom: What do you mean?
Ben: [very seriously] Well, I'd be afraid that I'd be sawing and sawing and then, all of a sudden, there would just be blood EVERYWHERE.
Mom: Oh. Yeah - that would not be good . . .
Ben: I know. People would get REALLY upset.
Mom: Yeah - I think you're right. They really would. And what would you say to the poor girl's mommy?
Ben: Or her daddy?! Or her brother?!
Mom: Yeah - what would you say to all of them?
Ben: [thinking very hard and then very seriously says] Well . . . I guess I'd just say [shrugs his shoulders and puts on his best "ooops - my bad" face] "Sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"

And I'm sure they'd understand, Ben. I'm sure they would.

1 comments:

Jill said...

I like that this story fits in with your mom always winding conversations back to death and diabetes. Sawing a girl in half. Creative way to work it in Dearsie! Was that girl a diabetic?