There's Always Room for Beauty in the World of Magic

Mal loves magic. We've told him that Santa's an idea rather than an actual person, but he insists that since he spoke aloud what he wants for Christmas, Santa heard him and will bring it. Same with the Tooth Fairy. I had to leave a dollar under his pillow when his crown fell out because he insisted to me that it would happen, even though we've never told him there was a Tooth Fairy, and explained that in a video he watched, the mom or dad were pretending to be the Tooth Fairy.

Like Fox Mulder, he wants to believe.

The other day, we were playing with Mal's Star Wars Micro Machines when I asked him if he wanted to see something magic. I took a Han Solo mini-figure, which is exactly like a full-sized action figure he has, shook it in between my hands, and produced the larger figure. Mal looked amazed, but also said, "I want it to be small again!" So I shook my hands together again, and handed him the smaller figure. He asked me to do it again. I'd already set the larger one under my leg, so this time, I just shook my fist like I was going to throw dice, made a throwing motion into the air, and threw the larger figure.

Mal was amazed and said he wanted to try. I told him it wouldn't work because he wasn't magic. I "shrunk" the character and handed him the Micro Machine. He shook it between his hands, opened them, and... it was still the small character. He asked, "Why didn't it work?" I told him to try again, only to toss it in the air this time. When he did, I threw the larger character. They both hit the ground at the same time. When he viewed them both together, he realized the trick and his face fell. "I wanted to see REAL magic!" he complained, and I determined never to reveal the banal behind what he desperately wants to believe is truly magical.

When we visited my sister's house for a bit yesterday, he desperately wanted Tian to "teleport" for him. One time when we were there, a year or so ago, Tian had gone into the laundry room and "disappeared," only to reappear in the pantry. Tian was busy with something else yesterday, and didn't perform for him, but Mal so much was expecting "real" magic.

This reminds me of when I was a youngster, actually. We'd gone to the preacher's house for something, and their older kids had asked me if I wanted to see something cool. I did. They went into a bedroom, shut the door, and a couple of minutes later, walked in from outside. I asked how they did it, because the bedroom was partially underground and had high windows, so they showed me a built-in shoe storage box in the back of their closet. They said that it had a false bottom, and you could take it out, and drop down into the basement, then come out into the garage.

I loved the idea of this secret passageway in this delightful house. I thought about it from time to time for what seemed like years. The next time we visited them (which we did not do often), the only thing I could think about was getting into that room and seeing the passageway. It was a legend in my mind by this time.

At some point, I sneaked into the room and opened the storage box. I pulled a couple of pair of shoes out... it was carpeted, like the rest of the room. The floor was solid. I looked around and noticed a desk sitting not quite under the high window, but close enough that a teenager could stand on the desk and probably pull himself out of the window. Then they only had to walk around the house and come back inside.

I'd figured it out, but it felt like a loss. I wished I hadn't. The idea of a magic passageway was so much cooler.

I wonder if the reason I try to make Mal (and did the same with D) understand reality is that I don't want them to be disappointed when the magic they believe in reveals itself to be an illusion. There is so much about the world that is practically magic, I guess I want them to focus on that stuff?