Between a green moon and a dark sun

"Henry, I think Gilbert just said that she loves you..." I mentioned cautiously. "I know," the first grader responded, "she hits me all the time". Well, at least she hasn't cut you into little pieces.

"So muchachos, today is our last Spanish class for the school year" I announced to the fourth graders. A few started clapping and cheering. It hurt my feelings. I admit it. Fuck you, I thought. I'll remember that next year while making worksheet copies instead of spending a fortune on sugar skull kits and all the other fun shit I do for you. Fuck you. After the applause occurred with several fourth and fifth grade classes, I decided to be open with them. "If you told someone that you weren't going to see them for two months and they started cheering and clapping, how would you feel?" I asked them. They seemed a little stunned, but at least they stopped clapping.

"So muchachos, today is our last Spanish class for the school year" I announced to the second graders. "NO!" the argued, "We have more! WE HAVE MORE!" I showed them the schedule, we don't have anymore and they started booing. Christopher stopped me as I wandered around the class monitoring their work. "Can I put a GPS on you?" he asked. "Why?" I responded. "So that I can always find you..." The situation repeated itself with first grade and kindergarten. That's when I realized I shouldn't take any of it personally, their reactions were developmental. The upper grades cheered about the end of classes, the lower grades cried. Maybe that's why I like the lower grades so much. Niceness doesn't get enough credit.

"Andy, I'll miss you over the summer. But I'll look for you in the woods if you escape forever so that you won't have to come back to school". The blond boy smiled with delight. It was a private joke between us. He was one of the few dislikers of school among the kinders. "Yeah," he said "I'll live wild, in the woods...." Other kids started listening...."Wild, like Tarzan!" one responded, dark eyes gleaming...eyes were lighting up around the room, "wild" I heard, "WILD". "Okay, raise your hand if you were born in the wild" I asked the class, giggling. Hands shot up and eyes gleamed. Heavy giggling. "Raise your hand if you were raised by wolves!" More hands, out right laughter, calls of "yeah!". Everyone wants to live in the wild. Half these kids are still practically feral. That's what makes them so fun.

I've been getting a pretty tough beat down from some of the adults in my life. For once, it is not happening at work, but it is indeed happening. I feel pretty misunderstood, powerless and maligned. But with the kids, I realized, I feel good. There might be something kind of fucked up about that. But I feel like they see the real me, the me that is definitely eluding others.

"I like your new haircut, does it feel good?" I asked the first grader with a new crew cut. "Yeah, it feels great!" he responded, "Know why I got it? LICE!". I quickly removed my hand from his head.

"Do you want to paint faces at Field Day?" the P.E. teacher asked me. "Are you crafty?". Want to? I'd love to. Here I was thinking I'd have to monitor some insane obstacle course all day. "Can I make you like, a little cheetah?" I asked Ricky. "YEAH!" he screamed. "Me too! Me too!" the others yelled. "What about, like, a lion?" I asked another. "YEAH YEAH YEAH!" they called. I have never done this before. But the kids said I could totally practice on all of them.

Wild animals. Everyone is going to be one on Monday.