Kids lose things all the time. You learn to live with that. There is a difference, however, between losing something and having it disappear altogether. Being a mom, I have become quite adept at finding things, in fact, sometimes locating something becomes an obsession. Sometimes, locating something means a good clean-up session; no object can hide from a thorough scrubbing!

Unless….

I have had a series of roommates. Roommates bring with them all the accoutrements of growing-up; childhood toys that have sentimental value, personal effects that are best not asked about, interesting apparel… you know what I mean.

Children are curious creatures.

My children are encouraged to be curious. We still work on the concept of “that’s not yours” but on the whole they are fairly respectful of other people’s property. There have been a few incidents with upset roommates, but usually things work out alright.

However…

Stephen Hawking postulates that black holes can big very small. He says they could possibly even pop into existence somewhere, suck up a bunch of stuff and pop back out again.

This naturally brings to mind the idea of “portable black holes”.

Onward:
Dot was obsessed with fairies, much like my obsession with wolves and angels. She painted a fairy on her bedroom wall… in purple. She had a pair of purple fairy wings. You know, the kind made from wire and painted nylon? Well, one day she brought them out of her closet and let the boys try them on. They were a big hit. Second son in particular loved them. I think the idea of floating or flying really appeals to him especially. Being littler than the rest of the world tends to make one fantasize about towering above everyone else someday and Second son is no exception.
One night, Dot came to me and said “have you seen my fairy wings? I can’t find them anywhere!”
These wings are about 28” across and 14” high and they are bright purple with white splattered on them; pretty hard to miss. We looked all over the place and couldn’t find them.
This gave rise to me doing a complete spring-cleaning job on the house, including the boys’ bedrooms. There was not a spot in the house that had not been scoured and cleared. I still did not find the wings. I finally decided to question the most likely suspect, the most ardent fan of the wings, my second-born child.
“[Second Son], have you seen Dot’s wings?” I asked.

“the wings are purple,” he said confidently.
“ah, yeah hon, they are purple…. But where are they?” I tried again.
“the wings are for de fairies and them purple is the put dem on fer de fairy who is the back on me!” he said triumphantly.
“riiiight,” I said, stolidly plundering forth, “but WHERE are the wings?”
Second son sat for a moment, thinking this over.
“the fairy wings…” he mumbled.
“yes, hon, the purple fairy wings…. They are DOT’S wings and WHERE are they? Are they here?”
“yesh,” he said firmly.
“good… good…” I said, thinking I was getting somewhere (foolish mortal!) “they are here…. Would you show mommy WHERE they are?” I stuck out my hand in a ‘let’s go’ gesture. He took my hand and led me to the mattress that sits on the floor. He sat down and let go of my hand and looked up at me satisfied.
“err… yes, hon… this is here… right” I had forgotten that ‘here’ meant his bedroom at the time.
“here is the wings, mommy. I likes to play with de fairy and de being of purple for me”
“right,” I said about to give up “[Second Son] looks very pretty in the fairy wings-“
“purple, mommy”
“right, sorry, [Second Son] looks very pretty in the purple fairy wings. Will you put them on for me?”
“no”
“please?”
“no. Go get the purple fairy wings mommy.”
“but [Second son] I don’t have the wings! YOU have the wings, now WHERE are they?”
“I dunno. You go get dem.”

I gave up. I had cleaned his room beyond any shadow of a doubt and those damned wings were NOT in his room or any other room in the house. Oh well, at least his room was spotless. Not a thing on the floor. Everything put away nice and neat.

I put the boys to bed that night. Dot and I looked some more for the wings (my car, her car, the backyard, the side yard, the mailbox) and we did NOT find them.

The next morning I woke up to hear my second son quietly talking to himself in his room while everyone else was asleep. I tiptoed to his room and peeked in to find him sitting in the middle of the floor HOLDING THOSE DAMNED PURPLE FAIRY WINGS IN HIS HANDS!

Thus was born the concept of Second Son’s Black Hole.

Since then, his black hole has been known to hide:
A rubber skeleton mask
A rubber skeleton headcovering
A three-ring binder with over 200 sheets of notes in it
Several books larger than 24” high
A scooter
Various articles of jewelry
Two textbooks
A four DD-battery bright blue Mag flashlight
A hammer
At least two cell phones

These are all objects that disappeared. Most of them reappeared in his room. This is, of course, how we figured out it was Second Son’s black hole. A few items never reappeared. We assume he found those particular items to be so much fun that he did not want to give them back OR he lost them on whatever planet he hails from originally.
He has also managed to transport a couple of items from one place to another. Such as the time when TYK’s notebook appeared in Ladylabyrinth’s car (TYK had never been in her car) or when Chewie’s cell phone reappeared in my bedroom (Chewie never went in my bedroom) or when my vibrator (giggle if you must) reappeared in the computer room.

We have started to surmise that Second Son has such good control over his black hole that occasionally he uses it even when he is not at home.

This has frightening implications.