I take my cell phone out of my pocket and notice that the battery’s gone dead.

“Way to plan ahead,” my son says, without looking up from his GameBoy.

“It’s no big deal. If the phone’s dead, people can’t talk to me, that’s all.”

“At least I’ve got a secret base.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It means I’m a lot cooler than you. I built it in a tree, see?”

He holds the GameBoy in front of me and moves a Pokemon character around the screen.

“I’ve got a balloon, a computer in the corner here, a chair made out of leaves, a scale, a spin mat, a glitter mat, a blue tent . . . it’s a lot better than our house.”

“Yeah, I think you’ll find that the world of make-believe is often better than real life.”