Elmo and the Pirate Pickle
This year for Hallowe’en Ben decided to be a Pirate Pickle, while Liam dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo.
Ben may have been inspired from the VeggieTales series, or he may have come up with the idea all by himself.
By dressing as Elmo, Liam was motivated by a desire to ‘leave childhood behind.’ We remain unclear how dressing up as Elmo will further this goal. Liam apparently doesn’t even like the Elmo character. We suspect he is working at an ironic level that is beyond our adult understanding.
The Pirate Pickle had been sprayed with an eco-friendly spray paint applied to bubble-wrap. This paint continues to flake off as we speak, while the Elmo costume was cleverly recycled from a cat costume. To maintain the Pickle’s bright green sheen (so it lasts until tomorrow) we may have to re-coat the pickle with eco-unfriendly paint, such as car enamel.
After much late-night handiwork by their mother Cornelia, Ben and Liam showed these costumes to their public this morning at school. When dropping off the boys at school it quickly became apparent that a Pirate Pickle held much more resonance with its Grade Four audience than did Elmo (which was discreetly stored in a plastic bag). Ben was like a rock star the instant he stepped out of the car [we chose to drive them to school because of the difficulties in transporting an over-sized Pirate Pickle by foot]. Ben hoisted his Pirate Pickle costume on a stick, like a medieval Crusader entering the gates of Jerusalem (which may be an appropriate simile given the Christian message behind the VeggieTales franchise).
