My money says a bearded man.

Little children exposed to television...

I remember very distinctly having dinner with my toddler in a restaurant neR the university trying to keep him out of a stranger’s first date.

“A cat!”

“Mama, LOOK! That girls a CAT!”

Don’t point! Don’t twist in your seat. Look at me. Speak very quietly at dinner. I see a very pretty woman having a quiet dinner with her dinner partner. Everyone is speaking quietly here. Let’s be quiet too and talk about our day in the city or dinosaurs.

“That girl is a a CAT!”

She wasn’t in costume. He would have shrugged off a costume. What was so exhilaratingly about this girl is she wasn’t a pretend cat, she was a regular woman in regular dress AND a cat!

And to my little boy she was a rare and special find to shout about in exultation.

One other time he’d found a young woman in post office uniform. I’d never paid attention to their uniform but got the impression hers was a thrift store find.

Well, kiddo figured her out and shouted in his joy, “A WEIRDO!” He’d heard of them but never seen one in real life before.


My money says lost boy encountered a man in the wilderness, who was also a bear. Maybe because he walked out of the woods off trail or had a furry face.