Mary lost three teeth sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is when the "lies" began. Mr. Edwards began filling her in on the details of the Tooth Fairy. He gave her all of the step-by-step instructions on how she could turn the teeth into money. However, "Tooth Fairy" was really a meaningless term for the Ethiopians so a different description was needed. Mr. Edwards explained that the Tooth Fairy was kind of like a tiny butterfly girl. This was an image they could understand. Of course right then and there Mr. Garvey had questions: "How does this tiny butterfly girl get into our house?", "How does she get the money under your pillow without waking you up?" and "How can such a tiny person carry so many heavy coins?"
I have waited 9 long years for these kind of questions from Mr. Edwards. Never once has he doubted the people with "magical" abilities that visit our house during certain times of the year. Mr. Edwards is an incredibly smart kid. He loves science. So I have always been baffled why at 9 1/2 he still believed so completely.
I had decided not to make a big deal out of Santa Claus this past year because of our new children. I didn't want to ruin it for Mr. Edwards and Mr Laura, but I also knew with the kind of questions Mr. Garvey asked about tiny butterfly girl that he would have some big questions about Santa Claus. I was afraid beyond just questioning the logistics of such an operation, that Mr. Garvey would also want to know things like, "Why didn't Santa Claus bring us food and toys while we were in Ethiopia?"
The inevitable happened sometime in early December. Mr. Garvey walked into the kitchen and said, "Mr. Edwards just told me that an old man with a very big abdomen is going to fly in the sky, come down our fire spot, and bring us toys and candy. Is this true?" I couldn't lie to him. I could not look this probably 10 year old in the eye and lie. I also didn't want Mr. Edwards to find out about the "lies" from Mr. Garvey. I managed a pretty vague answer and left him with "What do you think?"
On the next Saturday I took Mr. Edwards out to lunch. On the way to the restaurant, I broke the news to him. I told him that Pa and I were Santa Claus. He sat there a few silent moments and then let out a big sigh and said, "Well that explains why I never got anything I ever wanted for Christmas." Evidently he had been writing secret letters to Santa and asking for things that Pa and I were not aware of. We continued on to the restaurant and had a nice lunch peppered with a few more questions like, "What about the Easter Bunny?", "What about the Winter fairy and the Halloween fairy (don't ask)?" and finally with the tiniest bit of hope left in his voice he asked, "Tiny butterfly girl?" "Sorry, not real either," I replied. Overall he took it pretty well and now seems to relish the idea that he is "in" on the secrets. I have also let Mr. Garvey in on the truth about tiny butterfly girl and the old man with the very big abdomen.
The younger three still "believe". Tiny butterfly girl will be paying Mr. Laura a visit any day now for his first tooth. Mary is getting excited about the "big white mouse that lays chocolate eggs" coming to our house soon. Mr. Garvey, not being a fan of chocolate, is really disappointed by the upcoming holiday. He has approached me privately to work out a trade - his chocolate for some of my money. After we came to agreement on the terms, he said with a knowing smile on his face, "make sure that the 'big white mouse' brings some really good chocolate, you know the kind you like." Oh I will!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment