Point blank: No. But perceptive? Quite.

A.’s Ruminations on Metaphysics 

In the following dialogue, A. is a 4-year-old boy and B. is his mother and one of my conversation partners.

A: You know what, Mom?

B: Yes, A.

A: Well, when all the people die, when people die, other things live.

B: How did you come up with that, A.?

A: Oh, I just made it up in my head.

Correction: B. writes, “A.corrected me last night. He said that ‘my head just told me’ as opposed to ‘I just made it up in my head.’” B. concludes, “Well, I now have noted both.”

A.’s Ruminations on Aesthetics

The following are brief excerpts from the notes I took on October 23, 2011. A., his older sister, and I are drinking hot chocolate in the late afternoon at a local cafe.

A [while finishing his hot chocolate, turning to me]: “When you put your mouth on the marshmallows, it feels soft.”

A.’s Scientific Spirit; or, a Minor Variation on Vlad the Impaler. 

After finishing his hot chocolate, A. has elected to test his metaphysical thesis by running face first into a gate. Unfortunately for the thesis, he harms neither limb nor life. Prudently, the note taker offers the scratch-wounded A. a piggyback ride home. A. duly accepts.