One warm spring late afternoon, Obah-chan (grandma in Japanese) and her husband took her three-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter M for a walk near their home. On the way back, Obah-chan took the hand of little M and they walked side-by-side as she was getting a little tired from playing in the park. A few steps ahead of them, Obah-chan’s husband was walking ever so slowly to match his granddaughter’s pace. Some neighbors were enchanted by their lovely granddaughter and said, "Hello” wherever they walked and greeted their granddaughter with a big smile.

When Obah-chan and her husband were with children, it was customary to play some games especially when they were walking or riding in a car, so the little ones wouldn’t be too bored. On that day, the granddaughter M saw a stick on the ground and picked it up and brandished it like a sword. She suggested a new game,

"Let's play Peter Pan!” The granddaughter M suddenly stopped and declared.

"Good idea… Who's going to be Peter Pan?" asked. Obah-chan.

"I’m Peter Pan!" M said as she waved her stick like a sword.

“Then who would grandma be?" asked Obah-chan

"You are … Captain Hook," M lowered her voice while dropping her tiny chin as if she became Captain Hook.

When he heard that, Obah-chan’s husband turned around and approached his granddaughter. Then he lowered himself so he could see right into his granddaughter’s eyes. Meanwhile the neighbors who were working on their front lawn could hear her talking and smiled with amusement.

"Then who might your grandpa be?" Obah-chan’s husband asked M, while gazing into her eyes.

The granddaughter then tilted her head a little, while holding her chin with her tiny fingers. The gesture she would sometime make when she was searching for some clever answer.

"Grandpa? You are Tinkerbell.”

“Tinkerbell?” “I don’t want to be Tinkerbell” said grandpa. “Let grandma be Tinkerbell.”

“No!” said M. “She is Captain Hook and you are Tinkerbell.”

“But I don’t want to be Tinkerbell.” Grandpa pleaded.

“Tinkerbell is Peter Pan’s best friend so you are Tinkerbell.”

“But Grandma should be Tinkerbell” said grandpa.

“She is Captain Hook and you are Tinkerbell!” M insisted.

This conversation was taking place while they were in front of the neighbors who were outside working on their lawns. It must have been a strange sight to them to watch a 6 foot, 185 lbs. man bent over pleading with a 3 year old little girl saying “I don’t want to be Tinkerbell”