Not Atoms!
Tonight, as I read Avery his bedtime story, the space facts book once again, we turned to a page he hadn’t seen before.
“That is an atom,” I said, “everything in the universe is made of atoms.” (I wasn’t about to start a discussion on the nature of dark matter.)
“Even the Earth?”
“Yes,” I said as he looked closely at the floor, “but they are too small to see, even with a microscope. Everything you can touch is atoms.”
“But even the Earth?”
“Yes, even the Earth. Even you are made of atoms.”
“No, I don’t want atoms on me!” he shouted, trying to wipe them off.
“You aren’t covered with atoms, you are made of atoms,” I explained.
“No! I’m made of food. I don’t want to be made of atoms!” He started sobbing uncontrollably.
I realized this had got out of hand and held him tightly and tried to turn the revelation into something good. “It’s okay. Do you know where atoms come from? Stars make them. We are made from stars.”
“I don’t want to be stars, I’m made of food, not atoms!”
At this point I decided it was best to let t drop and he calmed down after a while. At least he was willing to go to bed without looking at the book anymore. I think he was just as afraid to restart the conversation as I was.
It’s just a matter of time before he discovers the awful truth, though.