Spiderman

Luca is still at the age where he firmly believes superheroes are real.  Every time I fly to New York, he says, “If you see Spiderman, tell him I said hi.  He lives in a big red building with a Spiderman on the front.”

He’s always visibly disappointed when I arrive home with no stories of being attacked by the Green Goblin, only to be saved by a wise cracking teen in spandex.

This past weekend, Diana and I spent our anniversary in the Big Apple, eating, drinking and walking.  But mostly eating and drinking.

On our way back from a delightful $28 hamburger, we cruised through Time Square, where we immediately put aside any and all thoughts of moving to New York. I was patting and re-patting my wallet in my front pocket when Diana shouted, “There he is!”

In the midst of the groping Elmos and Sponge Bobs and other dingy Furries, he stood.  The man in red and blue.  The Web Slinger.  Web Head.  The Caped Crusader. 

Diana and I rushed over to him, dodging a pretty aggressive Captain Jack Sparrow.  We were suddenly overtaken with shyness and celebrity awe.  “Sir?  Mister Man?  Would you do us the honor of letting us take our picture with you?”

“Of course!”  He said in a thick but indeterminate accent.  Like he was actually there to be paid to get his picture taken with idiots instead of fighting crime.  The fanny pack filled with $5 bills was a good sign.

We gave the most trusting person we could find our phone and asked them to snap away.  I had to bodily remove a Mini Mouse from our photo and we finally got one we liked.

Diana immediately sent the photo to Steve with instructions to tell Luca we found the real Spiderman.

Seconds later we got a text saying, “They’re predictably freaking out.”

We got home the next day with tales of perfect meals and conversations with straight out of central casting construction workers.  But Luca only wanted to hear about Spiderman.

“Was it the real one?  You can tell me if it wasn’t.  I just want to know.  Was he real?”

I looked at him in the eye and said, “It was the real Spiderman.”

I caught Elijah’s disbelieving eye and stared him down.  Luca is going to believe his parents met a real super hero for as long as humanly possible.