"Research Needed"

The second grader was proudly displaying his new MP3 player.  He said, "Right now it doesn't have a lot of music on it but it does have the Bible so you can listen to it."  Knowing this young man quite well, I wanted to take this chance to emphasize something.  "You know," I started, "that's great, the Bible helps us know how to act right and do the right things."  He replied, "Yes, it talks about Abraham (and in my mind I think, that's great he knows about Abraham, father of the faithful) ..........Lincoln.  He was a good man, but I'm going to pull out the Bible Concordance just to make sure.

"Well Qualified"

Mr. Mucus boarded the bus in a happy holiday mood and started, "Mr. Brandon, you know what I'm going to be for Christmas?  I'm going to be Santa Claus."  Being such an important figure I wanted to make sure he was qualified for such an undertaking.  So, I asked if he thought he could be a good Santa.  He turned and looked at me, patted his ample belly and said, "Come on Mr. Brandon take a look at this" and he finished with a "Ho, Ho, Ho."  He proceeded to tell me he had to get to school to pitch the part of Mrs. Clause to some girls at school and see who would take it.  From the cry of "Yuck" from the two girls behind him I don't think they want to be in the running.

"All I Want For Christmas"

It's that time of year when I expect a familiar question, "Mr. Brandon, what do you want for Christmas?" I've been asked this a number of times over the years and usually have an answer that is on the ridicules side, so when the young man asked today I was going to give such an answer. Before I had a chance to respond he followed with, "No not a shotgun, no not a million dollars and no not a vacation".  My next thought was how long has this kid been riding this bus.

"Prepared"

Without a word he put what appeared to be a lunch box on the dash in front of me. He unzipped the lunch box and inside  was a pencil box. He opened the pencil box to reveal its contents. He then pointed and gave me a verbal rundown of the items in the pencil box, "First aid kit, Kleenex, Chap Stick, Germ X and an ink pen". He calmly closed the pencil box, zipped up the lunch box turned to me and said, "If you need me you know where I am" where upon he set down. It really puts your mind at ease to know there is a first responder on board.

"Political Arena"

Looking in the mirror I notice a second grader hold up a paper and yell to another second grader, "Hey, is this a 22 or a 62 on your paper?" Well, I ask the most obvious question, "Are you cheating on your homework?" In a response that would have made any politician proud he responded, "No, I'm just using his homework to make sure I don't make any mistakes". Then as any politician knows the next step is damage control. You convince those around you that you are doing the right thing and it's something they wouldn't understand, followed by a quote that is not exactly true to its origins. So he looked at a kindergartner and said, "You wouldn't understand, this is real work, this stuff will chew you out and chew you up". Look out Washington.