When Elliot refers to children he does not know, he calls them “kids” or “boys” (if they are all boys). At Max’s 13th birthday party, he told Max’s friends, “Kids, go home!” and “Go home, kids!!”. He did not want them here. And when Brooks was playing the Terminator pinball, Elliot said he did not want him playing with his pinball. At the end, when Oliver was at the door, Elliot began pushing him out.
But at some times during the party he played with them, putting his roaring T-Rex into their faces. And they were good-natured with him, pretending to be scared.
Today at the school playground, two boys were on one of the slide structures, calling it their spaceship. We were on the swing, pretending it was a spaceship going to Planet X. Elliot yelled to the boys, “My pirate ship, boys!” More than once.
My heart aches because I know that eventually he will get hurt saying these things.
