Chloe and I spent some time at a park yesterday.

While other kids were chasing squirrels, their candy wrappers or their own tails, Chloe was quietly pointing out that members of the paparazzi were hiding in the trees, attempting to take her picture.

She had a number of kids convinced she was being stalked but none of them seemed to know what they were running from. They just knew something was lurking in the trees and Chloe, the mastermind behind the totally made-up story, saw them as an obvious threat.

She would yell, “Quick! Paparazzi!” and kids would scatter, following her lead.

I’m pretty sure a couple of them thought paparazzi was a rare bird species with some sort of attack training and the threat was very, very real.

Others maybe thought paparazzi was a type of tree, maybe even a snake or insect.

I think one kid thought it was just the name of a game to make kids run and even joined in shouting, “Pumpernickel!” whenever another kid got within four feet of him.

None of the kids questioned why my four year old was being watched by a parrot, camouflaged through the branches.

None of them asked, “What or who is the paparazzi and why are they after you?”

And neither did I.