The Legendary Brian

Brian has got to be the coolest person alive, in Jack's opinion.  When Jack met Brian for the first time at the beginning of the school year, he was bursting with excitement to tell me about the new boy in his class.

"Brian has a CHEETAH!  For real!  A real cheetah!  It's his PET!"

I tried to let Jack down gently, telling him that people can't have cheetah's, but Jack would have none of it.  He was so completely convinced that I started to doubt myself and even asked my good friend, The Internet, whether you can own a cheetah in the US.  It turns out, I was right.  You can't.

Since that fateful day in August, Jack's admiration for Brian has only grown, because Brian's animal collection seems to have grown.  The next animal Brian acquired was a black mamba (the highly venomous snake from sub-Saharan Africa).  And before long, Brian also had a bat and a cat.

Today Jack told me, "Brian was bitten by a great white - a baby great white.  He has tons of sharks in his pool and when the great white shark bit him, his leg was floating in the water."

Whenever Jack comes up with a new Brian story, I always clarify.  "Is this the Brian with the cheetah?  And the black mamba?"

Usually Jack just nods and continues telling me Brian's latest tale.  Today, Jack corrected me.  "He threw the black mamba away.  Now he has a rattlesnake."

Perhaps I shouldn't doubt Brian so much.  Maybe his family owns a zoo... and an aquarium... and he has a wooden leg.