one last story

I feel that if I get this out on the blog that I won't have to think about it any more tonight and then I'll be able to sleep. Does that ever happen to you? When the events of the day just turn over and over in your mind and you can't sleep?

My middle school kids have P.E. at the end of every day with the high school kids at this school. It's really cool to watch this because even though this kids are wild and crazy, the older ones play really really well with the younger ones. One of the high school boys has, I'm pretty sure, a bit of a crush on me. He calls me "wifey" even though I've explained really carefully about my awesome _real_ husband. The other kids even ask me where my husband is, and when I say, "at work being a cop" they say, "no, I mean that kid ..."

Anyways, we were all playing capture the flag today and this kid walks over to me and talks to me, which is fine. And he says, "what would your husband do if I called you on a date? Would he shoot me?" And I said, "No. He wouldn't do that." Kiddy-boy looks disappointed and asks, "so he wouldn't shoot me in the shoulder?" And I said, "No, he wouldn't shoot you in the shoulder." Kiddy-boy thinks about it and says, "What if I wanted him to shoot me in the shoulder?" And I said, "No, he still wouldn't shoot you in the shoulder." pause. "Why do you want him to shoot you in the shoulder?" Kiddy-boy, "Because if a cop shoots me in the shoulder then I would be cool." Me, "What?" Kiddy-boy, "If I pointed a gun at a cop then he'd shoot me in the shoulder and I'd be cool." Me, "No, if you pointed a gun at a cop he wouldn't shoot you in the shoulder, he would shoot you dead." Kiddy-boy looks honestly shocked. "What?" Me, "If you point a gun at a cop then it is his job to shoot you dead. He's not going to shoot you in the shoulder." Kiddy-boy, "Really?" Me, "Really. You will be dead, not cool." He thinks about it. Kiddy-boy, "Well, what if you asked your husband just to shoot me in the shoulder." Me, "He wouldn't do it. If you point a gun at someone the cop will shoot you dead, so don't point guns at people." Kiddy-boy, looking as if he learned something new and interesting, "Oooooh." All of this was a very casual conversation. It only struck me later that maybe I have helped keep him from pointing guns at people and getting into situations involving death. It was odd, he honestly didn't seem to know that a cop would try to kill him for it, but now he does. I also have a student who doesn't know a lot of normal things, like what vasaline is. Wierd.