Tonight as I was tucking Simon in to bed we were talking and he told me he really wants to go to New York City. I told him about the city, about how it is very big, and there are a lot of really tall buildings and how most people take a taxi and don't drive, and they have a really big park. His eyes got big, and asked me if there were lots of playgrounds there. I said, sure. There are lots. And a zoo too. His eyes got even bigger and he very excitedly asked me if Alex the lion was there, and how cool it would be to see Alex.
I had a moment to say, yeah, Alex is there. Everyone from Madagascar is there. It was there, on the tip of my tongue.
What I did say was, 'Alex is a cartoon honey. He isn't real. He is in a movie and he is just a cartoon.'
The big eyes and the excitement were gone.
Like I crushed some little imaginative excitement he had about cartoon characters being living breathing things.
And I feel awful.
