Our family recently took a family vacation to another state, and while we were there we visited the mall to look for shoes for my husband. (Because we couldn't buy shoes at home? I don't know, somehow you feel freer to spend money on vacation.)
While walking through the mall, our kids spotted an Easter Bunny set up to take pictures with kids. Now, we don't do the Easter Bunny with our kids, so they don't have much of a grid for it, but what kid is going to just walk by a 6 foot giant bunny wearing a three-piece suit? So off they ran to check out the bunny. Anna (She-Who-Knows-No-Strangers) ran right up to it and gave it a big hug. Joshua kinda glanced it over and then walked off to look at something else. (He's very cool these days, you know.) Matthew's reaction, however, was one for the history books.
He started to walk up to the bunny to say hi, and then he suddenly stopped at stared at it, cocking his head like he was trying to figure something out. Then his eyes got really big and a look of realization spread across his face, and as he pointed his little finger at the bunny, he yelled with all the righteous indignation that his 3-year old body could muster:
"THAT'S NOT A REAL BUNNY! THAT'S A PERSON!"
He ran up to Sean and me screaming this statement over and over, and then ran back to the bunny, pointing and yelling so we would all understand the FRAUD he had uncovered. He knew what was up, and he was not going to be taken in, by golly - that was NOT REAL BUNNY, that was a PERSON!
After Sean and I stopped rolling around laughing, we collected up our fighter for truth and justice and headed on down the mall. But the story was not over - after all, in a mall, you walk by everything not once, but twice.
And it was on the way back that things got real.
As we walked back through the mall, Matthew spotted that fradulent bunny once more, and HE had HAD ENOUGH. He ran right up to the bunny and pointed and screamed again "THAT IS NOT A REAL BUNNY! THAT IS A PERSON!" Then he came right up close to the bunny and whispered something to it. I wasn't right there to hear what it was, but I imagine the tone of it was something like this:
"You may have fooled all these other kids, but you haven't fooled me. I know what you're up to, and you will not get away with this tomfoolery. I'm onto you, pal."
Then he turned tail to walk away, and as he was headed off, he spotted the bunny's large basket of candy. Sensing his moment to right the wrong, he then proceeded to grab the bunny's basket of candy and take off with it.
Sean managed to catch the little rebel before he got too far with his spoils. Matthew was disappointed that he didn't wind up with a basketful of candy from this deal, but his point had been made: he had exposed the fraud of that bunny for all the world to see and taken his revenge.
Matthew: Protector of Truth for Kids Everywhere!
