fight or flight

today i wore this shirt:



a dad and mom walked into the store with toddler shortly behind.
the parents got a third of the way in, the little boy stopped dead at the entrance.
he stared directly at me.
dad turned to make sure his son has followed.
the little boy stayed still at the entrance, his hands raised into claws, face frozen in a scowling grimace.
"rawr!" the little boy mouthed from a distance.
dad bewildered, "well come on, what the hell are you doing?"
the little boy put his claws away and turned to run.
dad leaped to grab him yelling, "where are you going? get in here!"
the little boy being seized quickly yelped, "daddy there's a monster!"
the dad lifted him up to prevent him from running and hauled him in, as he approached me the dad confused said,
"what monster? what is wrong with you?"
the dad turned to look at me.
i stood harmlessly with clipboard in hand.
he slowly looked down to my shirt, completely bewildered, and chuckled "thats not a monster, thats a t-shirt...good lord...."
as the toddler passed me he tried to hide his face in his father's shoulder and whispered in a long slow hiss "eyeballs....daddy......."