dragon

there is a small nephew and now also a smaller one. the small one is seven and is incredibly thoughtful. the other day he called to request something for his new cousin- a sweater for fall with circus images all over it. because we live halfway across the country from each other, most of our interactions are by phone. his uncle and i have semi-mythic status (well, his uncle does at least) since we are not around all the time. i love the phone conversations because they are always unusual. he is unusual.

so he wants this sweater for the baby with the circus covering it. tigers and elephants, if i remember correctly, and a woman on a trapeze. when he says "trapeze" i make a mental note to ask his mom if he's got calder's circus by maira kalman. he will need it to read to the smaller nephew at some point and he will love alexander calder. he figures this sweater will take a while and is asking now so i'll have it ready for the baby by fall. he is a smart boy to know to plan this far ahead. this is a wonderful gift. i am trying to imagine knitting tiny animals in a million colors onto a sweater for someone who only weighs a few pounds.

i tell the nephew on the phone that although that sounds like a wonderful sweater, i'm not sure i can do it. i suggest he think about it a while and choose one image to put on the front of the sweater. he is sure i can do better than that. he is also very persuasive. and focused. he is sure the baby would like some variety on the sweater and that anything under three images on it would be unacceptable. i have spent the better part of the last fifteen years manipulating the minds of other people's children. i once gained control of a cluster of fourth, fifth and sixth grade boys with a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. i have convinced a gang member or two to write some nice fiction and once a child gave me a knife he brought to school. i didn't even have to ask. he just knew he ought to. i routinely separate ninth graders from cell phones and blackberries in my class. i have finely honed persuasive skills. i summon my best persuasive teacher tone and tell him he should choose three images, spend the week deciding which one he thinks the baby would like best and then call me next weekend. "look, i'll email you," he says, his frustration with me just barely in check. he does not want to hurt my feelings but he thinks i'm being ridiculous. just before hanging up he mentions he could use a nice sweater or t-shirt with a dragon from pokemon on it. he says the name of the dragon several times but because he is seven and i don't already know the names of these creatures i am unable to decipher it. he is not sure how someone he loves is capable of such frustrating behavior and he resorts to what works. "i'll email you!"

he has been busy this week being a first grader (it seems like he is in second grade, but i have been wrong in the past) and a big cousin so i've decided to find this dragon and see what i'm up against. you'd think it would be easy. i'm intelligent and internet-search savvy. every time i clicked something on the pokemon site there was confusing music or a game opened up. wikipedia was a little more helpful. there are quite a few dragons, it seems. there is, in fact, a class called "dragon". just like there is a class called "middle". they have fire or water properties and some fly. it seems that all dragons use claws and breath in their dragoning. they are overpowered by ice, evidently, and many can evolve. according to pokefolk and wikifolk, this has made them and other pokemon creatures enemies of the christian church. just wanted you to know.

possible dragons i might end up knitting include dragonite, kingdra, salamence, giratina, dialga and palkia. it seems like the one he wants might be dialga.

dialga can control time, which is very cool. he does not evolve, which should please the church, but i think that is because he is already mighty fancy. he is made of steel and his underbelly "is reflective like a mirror" according to wiki. he looks like a cross between the loch ness monster and a swiss army knife. he has many pointy bits and is about eighteen million shades of steel blue. he is a knitting nightmare. knitting him is not my biggest concern. i am already thinking about how to condense eighteen million shades of blue into three or four. i am already looking for the largest, most detailed image of dialga i can find to put into the knitting pattern generator. my biggest concern is that if i accomplish this, which i very well might, i might have to do it again. "my friend," says the small nephew, "would really love one, too."