The Storyteller, Part 3

(written Saturday, 9/4/10)

We’ve had a long hiatus from walking in the woods stories, but after visiting a playground that looks like this, how can you help being inspired?

 

And so tonight, despite being so tired that he was crying with exhaustion, Alex went walking in the woods. Not with his cousins, as would have been logical, but with his little girlfriends (ladies man). They stumbled across a castle with trap doors, wobbling bridges and a dungeon, besieged by dragons and guarded by gargoyles and wizards, and Alex singlehandedly saved the castle from a bad dragon.

And then—

“No, no, no, Mommy!” Alex protested. “Superman saves them!”

“No,” I said. “Not tonight.”

“No, I’ll tell this part!” he said. And forgetting his weariness, he launched himself up into sitting position. “Alex saw something in the sky, and he realized that it was a dragon.” (I skipped the long, wandering verbal route and took you straight to his destination. Trust me, you are glad I did this.)

 

“So then, he pulled out his phone”—and here, he did a perfect imitation of his daddy’s brand-new iPhone—“and punched in Superman’s number!”

 Ah, technology. You can ruin the most classic story.

As long as I’m sharing pictures, here’s one more, of the back of our van as we left Boo Rochman “Castle” park:

(We need this many kids, right??? 🙂 )