overheard

I was sitting on the steps to to a shrine when two little second grade boys approached.

One: “Let’s go into the shrine.”
Two: “Are we allowed? I mean, is it okay?”
One: “I don’t know, but I think we should go.”
Two: “What if the monks* yell at us?”
One: “I think we can walk around the shrine, but I’m not sure.”
Two: “I wish Doraemon were here. We could use his Hat of Invisibility and no one would know we were walking around.”
One: “Yeah. That’d be great… He’d say in his funny voice, ‘Doraemon will help you!’”
Two: “Yeah, well, can we go anyway? I don’t know if we should. Is it really okay?”
One: “I’m going. Let’s go.”

And without the aid of Doraemon, without being yelled at by monks, and without spending too much time, they wandered around the shrine and continued on their way home.

*There are no monks (a Buddhist term) at shrines (a Shinto place of worship). I think the little boys were not too clear on their religion traditions, which is not surprising.