ALEX IS THE NEW ALESITER

Brown in the new black. Tequila is the new gin. Alex is the new Aleister. Except when it pertains to me, for I have been blessed to still beable to say A L E I S T E R and not receive a dark frown.Aleister is, of course, my ten year old grandson. This new guy, inches taller than the other guy, with these new thick black eyebrows and the lowered voice of which he does not yet seem to be aware - - whom I took, along with his mother Angela, to an on-the-water restaurant on BB Island today.

"Ask me 'The Meanings Of'", says Aleister to me, "but make them new."
"Okay," I say, "ummmmm.. okay, What is Life?"
"Everything that lives," says Aleister.
"And what is death?" I ask.
Aleister's eyes go down before they come up again. "The meaning of death is stuff that is not really useful anymore. Except for Grandpa Jim. Because I am actually talking about real stuff like....make-up. Almost."

Now, Aleister takes off:"It takes me infinity-death-caves sometimes to get - - by the way, what is the square root of infinity - - and, speaking of infinity, there IS a half life that can occur really often, you know."
I sit there. I nod. I hope he understands that I understand even if I don't truly understand. In this way, I feel like a kid myself.

"Are you excited about the beginning of school?" I ask. "Yes and no," he says,"school is good so you can learn and get educated so you can get smarter jobs - for instances, if you do not have an education you will only get a crap job or maybe just a finger-cracking job. But if you get educated you could be a guy who makes animated movies, which would be GREAT."

"What are the three most important things in your life, Aleister?" I ask.
Aleister: "Me, my family, and my friends."

And what are the three LEAST important things?" I ask.
"Um.....The devil, Hitler, and Napolean Bonapart."

"Why Napolean Bonapart?" I ask.
"Too short," he says. Aleister is not yet completely correct or in any way politically correct.

"I want to tell you about my dreams," he says. "In my dreams I meet people from the way way way far away past and also people from the future. And in the daytime I see people who feel familiar to me although I do not know them. I realize I either HAVE known them or WILL know them. But that is another story."

"Tell me the other story," I beg.

"Not yet, Mama Kay," Aleister says.

As we hug and leave, he gives me a quick kiss and says, "You want to know why I keep you around?"
"I sure do," I say. "I keep you around because you are fun and you believe in God and you make me feel warm and fuzzy. And I like girls."

"You DO?" I reply. "What is it you like about girls?" (He has never been responsive to speaking about girls.)

"I like girls because they are cute. Really, that's what it really is. They are cute, cute, cute, cute, cute."

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. This is primal. This is brain stem. This is, coming from Aleister, the boy who would not even go NEAR the (as he called it) "pink part" of stores - meaning: girl's toys, girl's clothes, girl's anything.....amazing.

With Aleister I always feel the happiest I've felt in a long time. Even if my weekend has been ecstatic, if I am sharing a Monday with Aleister, I feel even MORE ecstatic.

In the olden days, there used to be a universal preference for sons. Women were locked in as "Second-class-citizens'. Not so, anymore. Now, couples are requesting more girls than boys. Every social scientist knows why and every one of them have different opinions ABOUT their "why". All I know is this: I'll take Aleister over any girl, any cheesecake, any ice cream, any giraffe or tiger or lion or otter or seal or whale or bear or writer or dancer or ice cream guy or pizza man or woman.....over any living thing, than......................anything or any creature or any ONE.. Let the traditional order collapse! Let is crumble! Just. Don't. Take. My. Aleister. Away.