Watch out for that tree!
Gabriel and I enjoyed a snack at Costco today and discussed the new book we had purchased. It was a 3D page-turning book that opened up a model of a frog’s anatomy while going through the pages. I was reading facts to him that were new to me.
Gabriel looked at me seriously and said, "Are tree sharks real?"
I did a quick indexing of real creatures in my brain. Yeah, I had to do the night shift last night, so I had to check internally first before I answered. "No, there are no tree sharks. Did Daddy or Uncle K give you that idea?" Teasing the children with untrue facts is an honored Daddy tradition in our households. I was vaguely remembering a comment Uncle K said after an all-boy excursion about Max Sharks. (Max is the name of our public light rail system)
"No, it was from that tree show where Warts the tree frog said it."
"Oh."
"Actually, Ick gave him the idea." (Ick is a fish that lives in the watering hole under the tree. He gets some interesting ideas.)
"Oh, you know Ick: he is mistaken a lot. A tree shark is a fun pretend animal though." I pulled out my travel pocket notepad. "Tell me about tree sharks. There is a book somewhere in that."
He tilted his head took a bite of frozen yogurt. "Remember, Mom, they are not real."
"I know, but if they were, what would they eat?"
He smiled. "Frozen yogurt and churros."(Churros are from Mexico and are long fried pastries dipped in cinnamon and powered sugar. They taste like donuts.)
"Frozen yogurt and churros, huh. How would they find that in the wild?"
"They don’t have to find them. People would give it to them."
"What if they lived in an area without people? Would they eat nuts, berries or leaves?"
"I think they like nuts."
"Would they eat insects?"
"Sure."
I scratched my chin. "About the tree, Gabriel, how would the shark move about the tree? Would he swim up the trunk or swim in the air about the tree?"
"Swim in the air about the tree." His face was becoming more serious in thought.
"How about sleeping: how would the shark sleep in the tree? Does it rest on a branch? Does it stick to the trunk or does it wrap its tail around a branch?"
"He’d wrap his tail around a branch and hang with its head down."
"Cool, what color would it be? Would it be green or brown?"
"It would be the color of normal sharks, Mommy." He said this incredulously.
"Oh, so it will blend in with the sky."
--Mom
