I already picked out a costume for today “What about this pair?” Saul suggested, holding up a pair or trousers toward his five year old. “These are nice.”
Lenny gave gave the pants a eloquent look of distaste. “No,” he said. “I already picked out a costume for today. I’m wearing this.” And he twirled, the deep purple dress swirling out. “It’s pretty. I like it. Those are boring.”
He wasn’t wrong. The trousers were brown and not remotely twirly. “Well, what about these?” Saul held up a pair of bright blue leggings. “You can be a noble’s son. We can find a fancy shirt and a feathery hat...”
“No,” Lenny said dismissively. “I like the dress better.”
“Len,” Saul pleaded, “You’re five now, and you’ll be starting kindergarten in the fall. You’re going to have to start wearing boy clothes soon.”
A mulish expression took hold over the young features. “I don’t want to.”
Saul sighed. “Well, you can wear the dress today. We’re all actors here, so it doesn’t matter so much, but at school, you’ll have to wear pants. Girls wear pants, too, you know.”
Lenny looked at him like he was the dumbest creature ever born. “I don’t want to be a girl, Daddy. I want to be pretty.” He paused, letting his point sink in, then concluded pointedly, “Pants are not pretty.”
He turned around, skirts swirling out, “And pants don’t do this.” He pirouetted away, the dress blooming outward like a flower.
Saul watched him go and sighed. “Dance lessons might have been mistake, Elly.”
But Lenny loved them so much, Saul couldn’t regret them too much.