Interview With A Xylogator

Granny CG's Good News

I recently attended a HOOZITS performance over at the Holy Grill Cafe, put on by the Portobello children and their puppeteer aunt, Carolion, who hails from the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The children provided the pre- and post- show magic tricks and jokes. The HOOZITS put on a show called "Library Lou Lou," and we were all captivated by a green plastic xylophone-spined alligator named "Music Al."

After all the goings-on were finally winding down, I took a moment to garner an interview with Music Al. It was a learning experience for this old grownup, I can tell you that! Here's the interview:

Granny CG: Music Al, it has been a real pleasure to see you onstage. I've never seen Toy Theater before. Are the HOOZITS the only toys who are doing this?
Music Al: Oh, no! We're special, but we're not the only ones. One of our most special things is that we're all recycled. We got discovered in thrift stores.
Granny CG: That's wonderful, Al. I'm a thrifter myself - But let's talk more about you. I just loved your theme song. Did Carolion write it for you?
Music Al: She wrote it down for me, because I woke her up with the idea for it in the middle of the night. That's my specialty - middle-of-the-night songs! But it's MY song.
Granny CG: I wonder if you might sing it again so I could put the words in my article for those who didn't catch the show?
Music Al: OK! I'm going to teach this song all around the world, you know. (Carolion puts Music Al on her lap and begins to play the little xylophone on his spine like a piano. Al's unmistakable voice sings out)
"Once upon a time
there was a xylogator.....
His name was Music Al
and he was everybody's pal."
Granny CG: Music Al, thank you. You know, I realize you're just pretend, but somehow you seem so real to me. More real than real, in a way...
Music Al: I am real. Gosh - I'm made all of Love. I know it looks like green with little blue wheels underneath, but really I'm way more than that. Carolion saw that the first moment she laid eyes on me in the recycled toys shop.
By the way, it's not "just pretend." Even the littlest children know the word is "BE-tend."
Granny CG: BEtend. I'll remember that, Music Al. Actually, that's how all my children pronounced it when they were very young. My grandchildren say it that way, too.
Music Al: That's right. Grownups should listen to children more, because some words are magic, and anyway it's not good for you to be too grown-up.
Granny CG: Looking at you and the other HOOZITS, Music Al, I can see that I could profit by your advice. I really enjoyed "Library Lou-Lou," by the way.
Music Al: LiBERRY.
Granny CG: Oh - I've always been taught to pronounce it "LiBRARY."
Music Al: But that takes all the magic out of it. It's really LiBERRY.
Granny CG: Music Al, I can't wait to tell my friend the Liberrian the right way to say it."
Music Al: Yayyyy!

Smiling, Carolion tells Music Al that it's time for him to be put away with the other HOOZITS in their basket, to rest up for their next show. She tucks him in next to Hootie Hoozit and Lou Lou Bookapillar and the others, covering them with the folded HOOZITS banner, and closets the basket top.

End of interview.

All I can say, Dear Readers, is that it really isn't good for you to be too grown-up. Try just be-tending that really, even though it's spelled l-i-b-r-a-r-y, the word is pronounced LiBERRY. Then go on from there. We never know - in Music Al's world, the world of the HOOZITS and the Portobello children and little ones the world over, magic is always just around the corner.