Angie Klink

Category: Testosterone Trenches

Weeks before Easter Sunday, Ross, 6, continually asked me, “How many more days until Easter?” He was almost as excited about the bunny coming as he was for Santa’s arrival at Christmastime. He told me he wanted his basket filled with comic books. He asked me if the Easter Bunny comes down the chimney. He asked me if he came through the front door. “But our door is so squeaky,” he said. “How does he come in quietly? Probably through the back door,” he speculated.


Then he asked for the Darth Vader voice-changer mask.

At first, I thought it was a passing TV-commercial crush that got him thinking Star Wars for Easter. But he continued to talk about wanting the bunny to bring him the mask. “You put it on, and it makes you sound like Darth Vader,” he said.

Hmmmm. I couldn’t imagine the ominous Darth mask sitting in the cheery, green grass of Ross’ Easter basket alongside pastel eggs and sticky Peeps®. It seemed, well, sacrilegious. So, every so often, leading up to the days before Easter Sunday, I would feel Ross out. “Now, do you still want the Darth Vader voice-changing mask?” I asked several times, but not too often to give away the fact that I am the bunny. “Yeah,” he’d answer, every time.

I visited the toy store where I found an entire endcap devoted to the Darth Vader head. But there weren’t many left on the shelves. Evidently, Darth was keeping the bunny hoppin’ this year. I looked at the black, one-foot tall mask. It was menacing. Amid graphics of a shadowy galaxy, the copy on the box said “STAR WARS—Become Darth Vader! Three modes—Vader breathing, movie phrases, voice-changer! Push the button, and try me.”

So, I did. I pushed the button.

And Darth said in his James-Earl-Jones-like voice, “You don’t know the power of the dark side!” Ugh. My sweet, baby boy—who the day before had skipped into the kitchen and announced ever so sweetly, “I love Easter because Jesus rose from the dead”—wants this mask that looks like Lucifer?

I hesitated.

But then I thought, Isn’t that what Easter is—the dark side turning to the bright—the wretched sadness of the crucifixion and tomb burial transformed into sunny jubilation on Easter Sunday? I grabbed the Darth Vader Mask and headed to the checkout.

On Easter morning, Ross scampered downstairs to find his basket. Too big to fit in the basket, the Darth head sat alongside. Ross ran to the box and said, “Oh, wow! What I always wanted my whole life! Dad, can you help me open it?”

My husband grabbed the scissors and wrestled with the packaging. Ross stood by, waiting patiently, with visions of Darth Vader dancing in his head. “I’m going to put it on and say, ‘Happy Easter!’”

And he did. Ross, all black, plastic Darth Vader face and blue-plaid pajamas said in a low, gravely, toy-changed voice, “Happy Easter!”

Under the sinister mask was my pure, silken-skinned boy, the one who told me in his Easter-eve enthusiasm the night before, “Mommy, do you know why the bunny hops? Because he’s so full of joy because Jesus rose from the dead.”

Then I knew my decision to give Ross the head of the Star Wars villain was okay. There’s a yin and a yang to everything—especially the Biblical story of Easter. We need to know the power of the dark side to know the greater power of the light.

The dark mask rolls away. The light in my boy prevails.

Upcoming Book Signings for I Found U and Purdue Pete Finds His Hammer

Indianapolis
Saturday, April 7, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Borders
8675 River Crossing Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46240

Bloomington, Little 500 Weekend
Saturday, April 21, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Borders
2634 E. Third Street
Eastland Plaza
Bloomington, IN 47401


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