Unfiltered Story #252943

I’d been having a bad day and had ridden with my daughter to the store. I’d finished my shopping and was sitting on a bench by the registers waiting for her to check out, and while I was waiting I was coloring a picture of a dragon on a color-by-number app on my phone. I glanced up as a young boy, I’d guess to be 4 or 5, approached me. I have a large facial birthmark and it’s not unusual for youngsters to ask about it, so that’s what I was expecting. Instead:

Boy: “What’cha doing?”
Me: *As I turn my phone so he can see* “Coloring, do you want to see?”
Boy: “Oh, a dragon! But it’s not real, you know.”
Me: “I know, it’s a drawing of what someone thought one would look like if it was.”
Boy: “But it’s wrong; dragons aren’t blue!”
Me: “Oh, they aren’t? I didn’t know that! What color are dragons?”
Boy: “Red and green and they have fire coming out of their mouths.”
Me: “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the correction!”
Boy: “You know, I have one of those.” *points to my face* “It’s right here!”
*as he lifted his shirt to show me a red mark on his belly.* “My mama says it’s a birthmark. I really like yours, it’s pretty!”
The woman he was with, I assume his mother, who was checking out at the closest register to where I was sitting, came to collect him and apologized for him bothering me, and I assured her he was not bother, in fact he was quite delightful, and thanked her for sharing him with me for a moment.
Still wasn’t my best day, but I was still smiling a few minutes later when my daughter came to collect me.