I was recently emailing with my mother's ex-boyfriend (a very playful, fun-loving man who has a real way with children) and the subject of the Blue Plague came up.
The Blue Plague was something that struck our apartment very suddenly one sunny afternoon in 1991 (back when this man was my mother's current, non-ex boyfriend). It covered everything with strands of shiny blue tinsel and caused us to go to The Sweet Factory at the mall and buy mass quantities of every blue candy they carried, which in turn caused our tongues to turn a shade of deep indigo. We must have looked frightful with our blue tongues and faces turned blue with early-90s eyeshadow. The Plague also caused fits of uncontrollable laughter and giggling.
Recently, during the emailing, my mother's now-long-ex-boyfriend asked, "Where did that idea ever come from??"
I have no idea. I was but a child. The Blue Plague was but one more of the many mysterious, unexplained phenomena of The World. At the time, the Blue Plague seemed like a natural progression from the Black Plague, which I had likely only recently learned about. My Childhood Logic looked like this:
Premise 1: There is such a thing as the Black Plague.
Premise 2: There are probably plagues of other colors too.
Conclusion: There is a Blue Plague.
I lump this in with other gems of Childhood Logic such as:
Given: I am 5. I am on my bike speeding downhill and have somehow forgotten how to use the pedal breaks on my bike. Childhood Logic follows:
Premise 1: This bike is going very fast.
Premise 2: I do not want to be going this fast.
Premise 3: If I hook my arm through the open window of a parked car, then I can get off this fast, scary bike.
Premise 4: a) The windows of that BMW are open, OR b) they are very clean and shiny.
If 1, 2, 3 and 4a are true, then
5: I should be able to safely get off this fast bike.
Conclusion: I crash into a clean, shiny BMW.
This is why children seem to do the darnedest things. It is because they are being logical.
