spynotes ::
  December 26, 2006
AJ's Christmas - Part II

[This is the second entry for today -- Click back for the beginning of the story]

AJ and the Bug Vacuum

AJ has always been single-minded with his requests for presents. He picks one thing early and sticks with it for the duration. Last year he told everyone who asked (and some who didn�t) that what he wanted for Christmas was �some cars and something for them to drive on.� This year he requested a bug vacuum. He first saw a bug vacuum when his friend N. got one for his birthday. Later, he got a closer look when shopping with his dad and was obsessed with it ever after.

While his requests for cars met with nods of recognition � �What else would a four-year-old boy want?�, they seemed to say � his requests for a bug vacuum were generally met with universal puzzlement.

AJ would explain patiently that it was a vacuum for bugs, not dead ones on the windowsill, but live ones, so you could watch them and learn about them and then let them go.

Of course, his father bought him a bug vacuum at the earliest opportunity. He hid it in the closet of his office. And forgot to shut the door.

About two weeks before Christmas, AJ found the bug vacuum. He had gone into his dad�s office to play in his spinning chair and saw it in the closet. He didn�t mean to. AJ felt bad about seeing it. His dad told him he was going to take it back to the store so he would have a surprise, but he could ask Santa for a bug vacuum if he wanted to. Then he hid the vacuum in a locked room in the basement.

At our neighborhood Christmas party, AJ sat on Santa�s lap and asked for a bug vacuum. Santa gave him a present. It was a Spongebob game. AJ loved it, but it wasn�t a bug vacuum. He kept asking.

At the family party on Christmas Eve, Santa, who had come via our town by train, pulled out packages for all the children (some of whom are no longer children but recent college graduates). AJ waited patiently to see what he would get. His name was called. AJ grabbed his present, said thank you, and retreated to the corner with his package to wait until all the presents had been delivered. Then the opening frenzy began. AJ was excited by the odd shape of the package and even more excited by what lay inside: a green and yellow plastic tube with a trigger on switch and a dial for suction. It had two sizes of nose cones (�one for big bugs and one for regular bugs�) and two bug pods each with a magnifying glass that doubled as an entrance and exit for the bugs. AJ hugged it and didn�t let it go for the rest of the night, even though we couldn�t get it out of the package. He showed it to everyone, even Aunt M., whom he didn�t remember, even though she hugged him again.

�I got what I really wanted!� he told me. �Santa knew what I wanted! He remembered!�

[More to come...I'm not sure when]

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