"Freedom"

A small kindergarten boy stepped up beside me.  His eyes were as wide as they could be and still remain in the sockets.  His mouth hung open and he was pointing to his right.  I asked, "What do you want?"  He still seemed very excited, did not speak a word and continued motioning to his right.  So, I looked to his right.  There seated very quietly were three little girls.  You could not ask for three little girls to sit as still and quiet as they were.  Yet, there was something not quite right with the picture.  The little girl in the middle, though she was the picture of perfect posture, was sitting there without a shirt.  To be fair all of her older siblings are boys who run around the neighborhood without their shirts.  Taking into account the double standard I quietly said, "You need to put your shirt back on."  Looking at me with a big smile on her face she replied, "But it's hot on the bus."  I shook my head in agreement and continued, "I know but we need to put our shirt back on."  She countered with, "You know it takes longer to put a shirt on than it does to take one off."  Following that line of thought, I encouraged her to see how fast she could put a shirt on.  She obliged and we continued on down the road without incident.  All was well, except for the poor kindergarten boy who may have to see an optometrist.  When I let him off the bus he still seemed to have a rather wide eyed expression frozen to his face.