Behold the Majesty...

Liger
Originally uploaded by PlushToy.

A little while ago I had the utter delight of being able to watch for the first time a certain film entitled "Napoleon Dynamite" with some very good friends of mine. Now, I enjoyed the movie for several reasons, chief of which was the company I saw it with, but there were several other things that stuck with me from the movie. The first is the disturbing resemblence between Napolean when you first see him in his suit and pictures I have seen of my father from high school and college. Seriously, just put a wee bit more meat on him (just a wee bit) and make the hair about shoulder length, wavy, and dark brown and that would be my dad. Now, while I'm sure there are other children out there who's fathers once looked like Napoleon Dynamite, but the second thing that struck me is slightly more unique. Do you remember when Napoleon explains his lovely drawing to Deb? The one of the Liger? Well, as he did so, I flashed back suddenly to my childhood, and lo, there I was in a small private zoo near Batavia, Illinois. I saw myself in my wee orange shirt as I wandered amongst the cages and petted the kid goats who were solely interested in consuming my shoelaces, the little green water pistol I had brought along to defend my mother from the dangerous animals sticking out of the back of my shorts. As I watched, I made my wee lil' way past the gorillas and the baboon, and over to a cage between the lions and the tigers that held one lone animal, confidently asleep upon a stone table. My young eyes filled with wonder at what I saw before me. It was thus that I first beheld the Liger. Next to the majesty that exuded from the beast upon that stone table, even the spitting llama and the monkey that shook your hand when you came in paled by comparison.
From that day forth, I never forgot the Liger, so majestic and yet so sad. Even as I left that zoo, he was still eith me. I have carried him inside me all the long years betwixt that day and now. And so children, behold the majesty that I saw in my youth. I give you the Liger. Enjoy.