Try Again Next Year

“Buddy Boy, the door is shut on your leprechaun trap!” I told my son excitedly as I gently shook him awake.  As soon as his brain registered what I said, his eyes flew open and his face lit up.

“It is?” He threw back the covers and jumped out of bed.  He ran to the living room and looked around.  “Wow, Mom, the leprechaun sure did make a mess!”

I looked around the room.  Actually, the leprechaun hadn’t made a mess.  The toys, books, and jackets strewn around were exactly how the kids had left the room before going to bed the night before.  I laughed silently and replied, “Yah, he sure did!”

Buddy Boy hurried over to the trap he had set up the night before.  The flap on the cardboard box was closed tight, and there were sparkly shamrocks strewn around the box.  “Look, he ate the apple slice I put in there! He must not like the peel.”

Kneeling down beside it, he whispered his plan to me.  “I’m going to turn the box up so that he can’t get out.” He carefully turned the box on its side so that the flap was on the top. “There’s something inside!” he said as he picked it up.  Very carefully, he opened the flap and peering inside.

“Presents!” He yelled.

“Did you catch him?” I asked.

Buddy Boy pulled the green light-up bouncy balls and green licorice out of the box, peering inside. “No, he escaped!  But look!  He left green footprints! And a note! Ah, man, I didn’t catch him!”

“That’s too bad!  We’ll just have to try again next year,” I consoled.

The disappointment of not catching the leprachaun was abated by the presents and shamrocks “Leprechaun Luis” left behind.  Buddy Boy gathered up all of the sparkly shamrocks and brought them to the table where his cereal was waiting.

“I already know what to do for next year, Mom,” he informed me between bites.  “It has to be a smaller hole, no big doors.  And I’ll put a whole apple in the trap.  That way when he eats the whole apple he’ll be too fat to get out the hole and I’ll catch him!”

“Wow, that sounds like a great plan!” I said, smiling at the fun morning we had.  The magic of childhood is a truly wonderful thing.