This is it! Here's how 'Harry Potter' ends ...
Here's how it all ends.
But let's take a short break before I reveal Harry Potter's fate. As much as the Chicago Bears appearing in the Super Bowl has enthused local types, "Harry Potter" has put Naperville into a collective haze.
I've never read a J.K. Rowling book, which is sort of funny since I try to read at least one book a month and her work has never made it onto my reading list.
Still, I figure a few billion people can't be wrong - except about Angelina Jolie. I would push her down a flight of stairs to get to Jennifer Aniston.
Anyway, it's hard to ignore the impact of a children's series that ranks in the top five of books ever sold after just a few years in print. It makes us realize how fun it is to use our imagination again.
As children, we loved magic. We created fictional friends, friends with greater knowledge and power than our parents. We would take cardboard boxes and carve them into palaces or forts.
A frumpy looking hat and a pillowcase serving as a cape were enough to keep us occupied for an evening. We'd destroy evil with every violent motion of our hands. It was our duty.
Rowling seems to hit all these chords with a precision and ease that makes readers very fond of her style. Think about it: Why else would adults be so willing to read a children's novel?
A recent poll conducted by Zogby Interactive indicated that 30 percent of American adults have read at least one of the books in the series.
It's quite possible that the tales of Potter have made adults comfortable with being kids again. It's also encouraging to see children reading again rather than a four-hour binge on a video game, looking like a moth fluttering around a light bulb.
So Naperville has joined in on the "Potter" craze and will be celebrating the release of the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," with a big bash in the downtown area this Friday that will draw thousands.
I'll be there for a while, maybe to witness some of the excitement, the silliness and the concept of what a wild imagination can do for our society. I might even pick up the first novel to finally join in on the fun.
But before then, I promised an ending for you dedicated readers. It goes like this. Harry arrives at a café with friends Hermione and Ron. They order onion rings and a song by the rock band Journey starts to play in the background.
If you're clueless right now, so were the rest of "The Sopranos" fans a few weeks ago.
And it's probably a sign that I stopped using magic many years ago and need to relearn the craft from Rowling.
Contact Mike Mitchell at mmitchell@scn1.com or 630-416-5279.