The Big Klonk

My nephew's son John is the only son of the only son of my deceased sister. John and his older sister Shauna are still well-loved, but they are sometimes completely nuts. John, whose middle name is the same as mine, was not named for me--we were both named for the first Clifton, my deceased father who was dead before the kids were born. He would have liked them, too.

But John is crazy. Just in the way that all kids are, I guess. Just like his sister before him, he can watch the 2 or 3 Barney tapes around here over and over again. I'm sure he's seen them hundreds of times. It is therefore peculiar to me that one of the commercials before the Barney Movie scares John and makes him go hide. He acts like he can't stand the commercial for a version of the stage play "Cats". The other day he screamed like a banshee and ran behind a large chair to hide from the monsters--the Cats! I had the feeling the same thing had been explained to him before, but his mother took the time to explain how it's just people dressed up to look like giant cats, that's all. He nodded and accepted her logic so quickly and with such an earnest look that I was reminded of a "scare" that I used to pretend to have when I was little, though maybe a bit older than 3. I may have started out really being afraid of cemeteries when the family car passed by them, but I ended up pretending to be afraid long after I knew it was no big deal. I'd cover my head and then start grinning! It was fun to pretend there was some Drama going on! Just as well I remember that; it'll maybe keep me from klonking John Clifton on the head with one of his shoes! Silly Rabbit.

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