My son Thomas has been voraciously reading the Harry Potter novels.  He’s now over halfway through the second one, and asked me the following question at dinner the other night:

Dad, why does Moaning Myrtle hang out in the bathroom?

I responded:

Well, she died in the bathroom, so that’s where she haunts now.

I kind of expected that to be the end of the conversation, but he had a followup:

Dad, did Moaning Myrtle die on the toilet, like Elvis?

Now, Thomas is 9.  I’d bet serious money that he has no idea who Elvis Presley is.  And he’s 9.  Did I mention he’s 9?  How did he possibly find out that Elvis died on the toilet?

No, I think she slipped and fell and hit her head.  But how did you know that Elvis died on the toilet?

Of course, I’m waiting with bated breath to hear this one.  And I guess it makes sense in retrospect:

Anthony [a kid at school] told me!

So now I’m left with trying to envision just how this came up in conversation.  Were they discussing Pokemon or their favorite Wii games, and Anthony just happened to bring it up?  “Yeah, the penguin suit is really cool, but the fireflower lets you shoot fireballs.  Hey!  That reminds me!  Did you know Elvis died on the toilet?”

I’m just coming up short here.