Snips and snails and puppy dog tails

While on our usual drive home Declan began quizzing me about, of all things, zombies. "What are zombies made of?" he said. Having no idea where the line of questioning was coming from, I gave him my typically slow response, "Zombies? Zombies are pretend, they don't really exist," I said.

Declan became defensive, "I know that, but what are they made of?"

His defensive tone effectively spurred me into a response, but I was still scrambling to catch up with the conversation, ""I don't know man, I guess it would depend on what movie or comic book you were reading at the time. Some come from an army experiment gone bad, others from an alien contaminated comet, but they are all just make believe, so there really isn't one answer."

My attempt to apply logic only irritated him more and he increased his volume and defiantly repeated his question from his car seat, "No, what are they made of?"

I realized he apparently had heard enough of my "not real" response and was looking for an answer, one way or another. A light-bulb came on and I remembered my column from last week.

"They are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails," I said with a grin from the front of the car, very confident that I had finally "caught up" to the conversation with my six-year-old.

Declan smiled and his body language showed a sense of relief as he looked out the car window. "Really? Cool. I don't see any puppy dog tails on them," he said.

I was and remain completely lost as to what zombies he was referring to, but for now I am just satisfied that he didn't respond by asking me what a snip was.