Over Labor Day weekend in Lake Placid Eldest Son discovered a Little Mermaid cell phone in the room where he was sleeping, the item the property of a little girl who stays there as well. A fierce tussle with Middle Son ensued over the phone and Eldest Son retained possession, much to the grief and ire of the smaller boy.
He started to place calls on the phone to Harry O, his invisible friend. Harry O is smaller than the head of a pin and invisible to most, but he does travel in his own miniature car seat when he goes with us on trips. He can also fly, and his plane's gas tank is larger than our house. Sometimes Harry O likes to hang out in light fixtures and ceiling fans.
Since he kept interchanging his pronouns when referring to Harry O, we asked him if he/she was a boy or a girl.
"Both."
"How can he be both?" said my friend.
"Well, he was born that way. So were all his friends. They are all boys and girls, both."
"So, they are all hermaphrodites?"
"Why, yes."
He picked up the Ariel phone and dialed with a self-important air.
"Harry O!" he barked into the little pastel-colored unit. "You are going in time out if you don't listen! I put you in a time out!"
He got off the phone with a small "harumph."
"Dat Harry O! She is 14 years old," he announced, and went off with the phone in his pocket.
