What's on Udo's Mind.

Udo and I were walking across the parking lot of the farmer's market this morning. It's windy today, and the trees are all shedding their leaves.
"Look at those leaves go," crowed Udo as a gust sent leaves rushing past. "They look like many small people running!"

My husband commented the other day that he had been watching the movie "Little Man Tate," and wondered if Udo sees the world like the kid in the film; in numbers and in negative. I wonder myself, because no one I know has a take on the world quite like Udo's.

Udo has his own ideas regarding what is and is not cool. He had four dollars, so we needed to shop for Hot Wheels. I pointed out a little blue Citroen, a Porsche 911, and a Lotus. "Oooh, look!" I say. "An Aston Martin DB9!"
"Yes," says Udo, "those are very nice." He smiled condescendingly, and chose a 1971 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon with wood panels.

"I want you to quit your other job," said Udo the day before. I ask him why. "Because Daddy is mean," he says, scowling. "He just yells and yells at me."
His brother Cold Fire interjects, "He wouldn't yell at you if you weren't such a moron."
I tell the boy to shut his face. "You're not a moron," I say to Udo, but he's busy trying to hit his brother.

Udo's brother dressed up as Edgar Allan Poe for Halloween. It was a good costume, I must say; he got a lot of compliments. Udo dressed up as a ceiling fan repair man, complete with a shirt bearing the name of his future ceiling fan repair company. "The Fan Man," it reads, "established 2002," with a picture of a fan he drew his own self. Udo's costume did not get compliments, and Udo seemed to be troubled by this. Udo thinks ceiling fans are the coolest things in the world, and he does not understand why hardly anyone else seems to hold this view.

"Next year," says Udo, "I'm going to be Mr. Bean."