Back in Black

We were painting clay bats for Halloween.

I poured black paint in a tray for Charlie. "Not that!" he cried in distress. "Bat colour."

"What's bat colour?" I enquired, just a touch testily. At nearly four, he's become quite particular about art.

"It's all colors mixed together except black," he explained.

I offered the opinion that all the colours mixed together would make... black, but he was adamant. So we did it.

"See? Bat colour," he said. And it was. Black, but an earthy, swirly, batty black. A murky black that held secrets. A black that suggested life. A black that soon came to decorate a large part of the dining room table.

Happy Halloween, everyone.