Career Opportunities

I've seen enough science fiction movies to know that somewhere, in an alternative reality, my son is currently jetting down to Hollywood where he will be whisked away by "all that star-making machinery" behind a popular TV show. This divergence from the reality we have become so accustomed to (breakfast, cartoons, and then hours of incessant begging for just a few more minutes to play video games) came as a surprise to us on Saturday afternoon trip to Target.
My son and I were on our way to the checkout lanes with his latest Lego purchase, when a woman stopped us. She was tall, blond and tan, and she asked me, "Do you think he would like to do any television?"
It took me a moment to register just who she might be talking about, but then I looked at my son and asked him, "Whaddya think?" He shared my disbelief, and we waited for clarification.
Tall Blond Tan lady handed us a flier from her purse that my son and I looked at but neither of us read while she continued her spiel: "Do you ever watch Nickelodeon or Disney? 'Hannah Montana' or "The Suite Live of Zack and Cody?'" I shook my head. Next to me, my son nodded in affirmation. She went on about how they were looking for kids for a couple new shows, and she "loved his look."
Since it was me and my son, we smiled politely, took the flier and headed toward the front of the store. We talked a little about what might have been. When we met up with my wife, she was fascinated, and wanted more information. On the strength of my description, "tall, blond and tan", she was able to track down this lady and get at least one step closer to the veracity of the situation.
The irony of this whole encounter, for me, was that we had been telling our son that if he didn't pay more attention to his appearance, people might not treat him the way he wanted to be treated. He listened, and then went out in his shaggy haircut and poorly trimmed cut-off jean shorts. Apparently his parents know very little about "the look" these days.
We didn't end up going to the audition. It was deemed too much trouble and stress. We decided that it would probably entail too much time and money on our part to get him to the place where he would become the TV star that was suggested by the flier. We decided that those grapes were probably sour.
But somewhere out there in another plane of existence, my son is sitting in front of a big bowl of very sweet grapes that someone else picked and peeled for him, because he's got the look.