Abracadabra

I remember the days when we'd choose our restaurants based on the food and wine list. Now we base our restaurant choice on which one has kids eat free night and which one has a clown/magician. Our current favorite is Chili's. Monday night they have a magician who does great balloon animals.

Last night we met Shawn up at Chili's for an enjoyable family dinner night. The food is great, the beer is cheap and the magician is friendly. What more could you ask for?

When the magician approached our table he asked each child what balloon animal they'd like. E answered, "Cheetah". Lickity-split, she had a cheetah. I can see the magician is on auto-pilot. It was probably the tenth cheetah/tiger/lion big cat balloon animal he'd made that night. He turned to L next and asked him what balloon animal he would like.

"A swift.", said L.

"A what?", said the magician.

"A swift.", said L.

The magician, thinking he'd just save that one for last, looked hopefully over at N and said, "What about you? What animal would you like?"

"A kiwi.", replied N.

"A what?", asked the magician.

"A kiwi bird, they're my favorite.", said N.

At that point the magician, looking for some help, turned to me and I looked at L and said, "How about a swan or a parrot, L?" Thankfully he agreed and the magician made a really nice swan for L. You could tell he was still mulling over the Kiwi request so he started asking N what a Kiwi looks like.

"A kiwi is from New Zealand. It is nocturnal and doesn't fly. It has brown feathers and they have a really long beak.", said N.

E then piped up, "They use their long beaks for smelling. They are really good at smelling to find their food."

The magician was still stymied and got out a black balloon. "How about a penguin?", he asked N.

"No, thanks. I want a kiwi", N told him.

So this magician, who by now should win the Kindest-Magician-of-the-year award, somehow takes a balloon and crafts a bird he's never seen or heard of before.

N was very polite and thanked the magician but as he walks away, N says, "Mom, this doesn't look like a kiwi!"

Everyone's a critic, right?