The Devil Made Me Do It

Gran, Eric, Gus, Henry, Agatha and I had a Family Outing to the Mall today, which we usually do at Christmastime. Today we didn't shop, though; just let the kids play, went to look at Santa (although not to talk with him; too weird), and ate lunch. On the way there, in the car, Henry said: "All day, and every single day, my mind goes through my brain and I have the same eleven dreams over and over again." Wow, I said; what are you dreaming about? "I don't know yet; it's going to start tonight. I dream at night time." Are they happy dreams? "No." Are they scary dreams? "Yes." Are you a superhero in your dreams, I asked? "Yes. When there are real alive things in my room, I fight them, so I have to gather my weapons for tonight." Later, over lunch, I was telling my mom and Eric this, and Henry heard me and chimed in. "I have to fight the things in my dreams. You know what weapons I'll need? I'll need a torch, a sword, a shield, and a spear. First I'll burn them with the torch and then I'll spear them." Good plan, we said (Eric also recommended a cheese grater).

We had a good time but at the very end of our visit, Henry wouldn't stay close to me in the very busy parking lot and frightened me by running out too close to several cars. I chewed him out about the rules in parking lots and listening to Mom and then everyone was silent for awhile as we drove home. "Mom, the reason I didn't listen to you was that I was thinking about my dreams and the bad guys were telling me not to do what you said." Really? So the bad guys were telling you not to listen to your mom? "Yes. There are a lot of them. There's the Idiots, and the Lukers [or lucres?], and there's the good guys who are dressed up in monster suits to scare the bad guys..." Well, next time you just tell those bad guys to quiet down so you can hear your mom, I said. "Yes, I can yell at them, because they don't like that-- they like peace and quiet."