What could be better than spending a couple of hours at the Mall shopping with my nephews. I had plenty of plastic in my wallet and would have indulgently bought them almost anything. When it came down to it though, they ended up buying a couple of cap-guns from the Dollar Store. Those cheap cap-gun pistols thrilled these two 7 years old boys.

I was trying to remember what would have thrilled me when I was seven. I can't really remember. When I was five I wanted a beaver costume. It was the beginning of my theatrical bent. When I was six I wanted my Dad to bring me a box of Nibs and let me stay up to listen on the radio to Mr. Keene, Tracer of Lost Persons. Whe I was seven I used to dress like Hopalong Cassidy and I KNOW I had a six-shooter or two. When I was eight I wanted the war in Korea to end, Sister Joseph Marie to drop dead, no more world hunger, the defeat of International Communism and freedom for Red China.

When I was nine I realized life is not fair. The Korean War never really ended (truce & cease fire)....Sister J-M lived to be 91....the world is still hungry (I could use a bacon sandwich RIGHT NOW but bacon is so expensive)....it took years to defeat the Commies and China is still Red....and I'm still waiting for those Nibs. (I ordered a beaver costume from a company in Southern California but what I got wasn't what I expected...A couple of months ago I found it packed away but it is almost sixty years old and all the beaver hair had fallen off....now it's a shaved beaver costume)

Would I want to be a seven year old in 2008? I'm not sure. Think of all the things I would have missed.