The Queen of Pluto

For at least six months, Agatha has been telling us about the planet that she rules in her off-hours: Pluto. Not the regular Pluto that *we* know, but a tiny Pluto, Speck-Pluto, that is smaller than a speck of dust but contains a whole planet. It is freezing cold (like the real Pluto), which is good because Agatha needs cold and finds our planet, Earth, too hot. On Pluto, everything is made of ice. She is the queen of Pluto, but she also says that on Pluto, everyone is royal-- everyone bosses themselves around. And yet she remains first among equals.

For one thing, she has defeated her arch-nemesis, the Mysterious Bear. She routinely marshals her people to battle the bear; she is an archer and shoots golden arrows at the bear. Agatha flies to Pluto at night, while we are all sleeping, so we don't notice she has gone. While there, she visits her real mother, Mother Sun. Her father is Father Moon. She has two invisible brothers, Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter. They are often with her on Earth, as well as on Pluto, but we can't see them because they are invisible. They are nice brothers and always want to play with her. Through Mother Sun, Agatha has a special channel of communication to the weather and commands all living things to grow. One thing I wrote down in early May was: "Mom, you know who my REAL mother is, right? Mother Sun. It's really hard to play hide and seek with her, though. When she goes behind a cloud, I can't find her, and when she's out, she's everywhere!"( I wish I'd written down more gems over the last few months...)

Agatha talks about Pluto A LOT. It's her way to participate in any conversation. If you were to say, "I really need to vacuum," she might reply, "You know, on Pluto, houses vacuum themselves! They pick themselves up and shake themselves out and all the dirt comes out." I made a mental note back on May 24th when Agatha said slowly, "You know, Mom, all that stuff about Pluto? It's not all true..." I thought: there it is, the end of the imaginary world. But no, Pluto had a resurgence. All summer it was going strong. Pluto is a place of justice and control, bravery and generosity. Agatha is fully independent there, yet supported and sheltered by the other planets and her loving people (for example, her bed on Pluto is giant-sized-- and yet, of course, speck-tiny--and all the people of Pluto sleep in it together). She is a brave warrior, and a benevolent ruler: the queen of Pluto.