So, I think Sanjay has figured it out. The chicken on the street corner holding a sign for “Free Wings – This Way” and the tiger on the sidelines of a football game... yeah, well they aren't for real. He knows now that there is one of us silly adults behind every good character costume. He told me so last night when he pointed out the tiger on TV. I asked him, “Was it a real tiger?”... and he looked at me like I should've known better and said, “No, it's a pretend tiger. There's a person inside.”
Before this, there were only hints of suspicion. Once when he was too young to have figured it out, he said about the chicken on the corner, “Mommy, that chicken has shoes.” Good observation little one, real chickens don't wear shoes. And, then during Book Fair at Priya's school back in October, he met Clifford, Curious George and Geronimo. The adults in the costumes were so patient with him as he asked for hug after hug after hug. We had to drop something off inside at the school office and the characters were finished their greeting duty so they came inside to strip down. Well, Clifford took his head off right there in the middle of the hallway and when Sanjay and I walked out of the office into this, he was visibly devastated. He couldn't take his eyes off this human-headed Clifford. He was confused, bewildered, shocked... and my heart went out to the little guy. The belief in these bigger-than-life characters would have gone on longer, I believe, if he hadn't seen this now. While walking out to the car he kept repeating... “Someone hurt Clifford” and it was on his mind for the rest of the day. With Halloween following quickly behind this incident, I think that sealed the deal. He is now convinced that these big, furry characters are really just us adults in costume. Sanjay, you seem to young to know this already... how can I help you hold on to the magic??
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