Arno's new friend

Here's some family news: Arno has an imaginary friend named "Silly."

Silly made his first appearance during our holiday vacation in Guam, introduced as "my friend Silly." Arno told us that Silly "lives in Korea" (because, we guessed, Blaine often goes to Korea) but that Silly was on vacation in Guam, too. Silly and his family were staying in the hotel next to ours.

Blaine and I were curious to see how far Arno could imagine Silly, so we asked a bunch of questions and got a bunch of answers. Silly has a mom, dad, older sister Sally and little brother Jack. Later, we learned that Silly lives in Tokyo - in our neighborhood, no less - and that Silly will move to Seattle when we do.

Arno doesn't talk about Silly every day. Instead, Silly is the repository for Arno's dearest wish, which is a moving target. We've been told that Silly "doesn't go to school," that Silly "has a dog" and that "Silly's mom lets him do whatever he wants."

Arno's latest fixation is guns (replacing his fixation with swords) and tonight at supper he told us that Silly "lives at gun school." We wondered: What happens at gun school? "They shoot guns, play with guns, and they eat gun crackers that are shaped like guns." Sometimes Arno talks on a toy cell phone with Silly, and tonight Silly told Arno that Silly is "making a yellow sword for me; it turns into anything I want it to turn into, like a sword or a gun."