Dino-Mite!

The Elder Boy will be 4 tomorrow. If you are playing along at home, 7:23 AM to be exact. As you can imagine, he's super excited about his Birthday and party which will have a dinosaur theme this year. A few weeks in the rearview, at dinner, we were talking about his party and I figured I'd give him an early Birthday present in the form of a bad stock joke. "E", I said, "When you invite your friends to your Dinosaur Birthday Party, or talk about the party, be sure and tell them that it is going be dino-mite!" The Boy just looked at me and kept on eating.

Fast forward to yesterday, Ethan and I went to the mingo store to get a candy treat. As we entered the 7-Eleven, a nice older gentleman who appeared to be a Vietnamese immigrant gave us a warm greeting. We both said, Hello, and walked over to the candy aisle. A few moments later, the man manning the store, came down the aisle, and sort of inserted himself between us (which freaked me out) and reached down and grabbed a pack of sour patch kid candy and held the candy out for Ethan to take. Ethan was a bit freaked out as well, and looked at me for support, which I gave by nodding. My first impulse was that this old guy was simply being friendly. He probably had kids, or grandkids and maybe they weren't around the Messoplex and this guy missed them, or something. Thats what was running through my monkey brain, when out popped a darker thought! This guy was a pervert, and being Asian, and new to the US, in my head at least, he could have the bird flu. No shit. I thought that, and just one day shy of the MLK Holiday too. We shall overcome my ass, I suck!

Back in the real world, this guy was in the candy aisle stoopped over to be at E's level, as he handed Ethan the candy and said, in his broken English, "These candy good candy. Sweet and...(I guess he didn't know sour in English so he scrunched up his face to mime sour) Me like. Me think you like. Yum yum." Then, instead of raising back up to his full height, he sort of held the position and was looking right at Ethan. This freaked me out real hard. I was about to pick up the Elder Boy and dust our collective ass out of the candy aisle of that 7-Eleven and away from this Vietnamese Michael Jackson when Ethan simply said, "Thank you." Tran (he had a name tag) raised up to his full height and looked at me and back down at Ethan, and gave us the most beatific smile. It was amazing actually. Instantly my fear of the other passed. I no longer saw this old guy who looked different from us. Who had bad teeth and talked funny and possible had the bird flu. No. He was just this nice guy who was being sweet to my Elder Boy.

Ethan, who was hip to all this way before me, was busy talking to Tran about his second candy choice, when Tran said to me, "Old is he...?" And held up his right hand with all four fingers and thumb up, to imply 5..."He this many?" I smiled. "No, he's this many..." and held up my right hand and showed him four fingers and said..."Almost actually, He'll be 4 on Tuesday." Tran smiled that amazing smile, and said to Ethan, "Party? BIG party...yes?" and extended his hand so he could give Ethan a celebratory Birthday hand shake. E didn't miss a beat, as he took Tran's hand, and the two of them stood in the candy aisle at 7-Eleven and shook hands. Still shaking, Tran said, "Happy Birthday." Ethan replied, "Thank you." Thought a moment and added, "I'm going to have a Dinosaur party...it's going to be dino-mite!

Until I BLOG again...Happy Birthday Boy!