Run!

Elias had a strange energy at bedtime last night, uncharacteristically so.  He did not lie down as he usually does, but stood at the foot of the bed looking at me with a peculiar smile.  "Hey Dad, if you were in a store and someone pulled a gun on someone, what would you do?"

The look in his eyes threw me off a bit.  It was intense but playful at the same time.  He seemed to be really interested in how I would answer this question.  "Well, I would just let him have the money out of the cash register so he would leave."

"But what if he put the gun to that person's head?"

"I would ask what he wants and see if I could get that for him."

"So, what if he shot that person?"  I could tell he was waiting for my answer with baited breath.  I told him I would probably rush the shooter to try and keep him from hurting anyone else.  Apparently this was what he was waiting for.  He threw his hands up in the air and then clamped them down on his head, "No!  No!  You would run away, OK?  You would run away!"  Then he jumped onto the bed and hugged me.

The big reveal was that he'd had a dream where I ran at the person with the gun and ended up getting shot and killed.  "So if that ever happens, Dad, run away, OK?"


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