Ganga and Lack

I like the way kids usually seem to fit into their families. I can tell Asher's ours, because he's obsessed with playing games, easily frustrated, eats like a horse, makes up random little songs to himself, can't stop talking, and is under the impression he's hilarious. Yep. Ours. And while giving birth to and raising a child certainly make for a lot of familial similarities, inevitably, kids will still manage to throw a surprise or two your way.

Enter Ganga and Lack, Asher's imaginary friends. Serious imaginary friends. Now Andrew and I were not particularly imaginative children; in fact, I remember being slightly annoyed with other kids who insisted on playing "pretend." But here I am, attempting to sit down in a chair, only to hear our Asher yell, "Watch out for Ganga!!!" It's perplexing.

He's been "seeing" them regularly for months now, maybe once or twice a week. He marched into our room the other day and announced, "My friends Ganga and Lack are coming over today!" Huh. Okay...asked what they planned to do, he replyed, "Just hang out." Fine. 

I didn't realize imaginary friends were a real thing...well, you know what I mean. And what I find most interesting is the consistency with which Asher describes these friends. Ganga (pronounced Gang-ga) is a girl, and Lack is a boy. They have the same mommy and daddy. They fit into Asher's hands. It all sounded sweet enough until we asked our son what Ganga and Lack looked like, and he said something chilling: "They have red eyes." 

WHAAAAAAAAT?!??? My kid's friends are demons?? Fantastic.

Because it wasn't some fluky, little kid thing. Every time we asked what Lack and Ganga looked like, Asher would always volunteer the same disturbing fact, and nothing more: "They have red eyes."

Seriously?! Is this real life, or did someone forget to tell me my child is starring in Children of the Corn 2?

After months of the heebie jeebies, we were finally able to gain some closure last week. We were treating ourselves to a nice breakfast at Chic Fil A, when Asher asked very politely if Lack and Ganga could come too. Curiosity piqued again, we started asking more pointed questions about his cohorts. 

What color hair do they have? 

"White."

You mean blonde.

"No, white."

What are they wearing?

 "Glasses."

 They're both wearing glasses? 

"Yes. Ganga and Lack have to wear sunglasses."

We exchanged looks of relief. Asher's friends aren't devils after all. 

They're albinos.