Apposite

Today was Halloween preparation day amongst us MacFarlands, the day in which the decorations are brought out of their box in the garage, the day in which the children are driven to the store to pick out their trick-or-treat costumes. It was just me and my baby today, the older ones eschewing dress-up as mindlessly juvenile, Mister MacFarland lately eschewing my company as a rule. Suited me fine; less bitching and moaning, on the whole, less of a ding to the pocketbook.

My youngest had earlier in the week declared his intention to be a zampire this year, a creature, to his telling, occupying a sphere somewhere between a bloodsucker and a zamboni. We had it all planned; we'd buy him a cape at the store, and mommy would work makeup magic on the rest. Slicked-back hair, dead white face, pointy black eyebrows, twin rivulets of blood dripping out of the corners of his mouth, and, of course, the de rigeur set of plastic teeth. He's been talking about it for two days, excited at the prospect of those teeth, those blood-drips. Bleeds, he calls 'em.

However, when we reached the costume store, the plethora of choices available to him drove the zampire idea right out of his tiny little head. He strode firmly past the Harry Potter regalia, the Captain Jack Sparrow outfits, the Little Devil accoutrements, hollering at me over his shoulder - "Mommy, come on!". I finally found him standing, enraptured, in front ot the armor-and-sword section, eyes like saucers, staring at the prepackaged "Crusader" sets.

At long last, he chose. A helmet with workable beaver. A breastplate, emblazoned with a cross. A shield, similarly decorated. A long-sword, bigger than him, the hilt encrusted with faux jewels, the tang engraved with an arcane incantation in Latin, probably as faux as his sword-hilt jewels. A short, broad sword to lash at his side, a fine blade of Spanish steel (plastic), tempered in the fires of righteousness (probably somewhere in Taiwan).

That's my boy.

I wonder if he'll really get into the spirit of the thing, and go after the Muslim kids down the street?