"Mom, who's Aw-sam-ah bin Lah-den?"  Shaun's attention is turned to CNN and away from his LEGO race car.

 

"He was a very, very bad man,  He killed thousands of people who didn't deserve to die."

 

"How did he die?"

 

"The military in the United States shot him with a gun.  In the head."

 

"You mean a soldier shot him?  Maybe it was with a long gun like Elmer Fudds!"

 

"Yes, a soldier shot him.  It probably was with a gun like Elmer Fudds.  I would think those soldiers carry all sorts of weapons."

 

"Why did he get shot?"

 

"Osama bin Laden blew up some buildings before you were born by crashing airplanes into them.  He also made some planes crash into the ground.  Everyone died and it was Osama's fault.  The United States has been searching for him ever since and yesterday they found him and shot him so he can't do bad things anymore."

 

"Why didn't they just put him in jail with other bad people?"

 

"Osama bin Laden was too bad to go to jail.  When the sodiers caught him, they shot him and now he's dead."

 

"I'm never going to be that bad.  I'm glad Aw-sam-ah bin Lah-den is dead, Mom.  People who are super extra mean like he was should get shot in the head."

 

_____________

 

The conversation was short and honest.  I answered his questions without offering too many details.  Somehow I think he'll remember this day as 'the day a soldier shot a bad guy with Elmer Fudd's gun'.