Close Calls

Saturday night at Neptune Beach, 8:30pm:
Dylan and I were walking toward the shops/restaurant area of Neptune Beach when we heard a loud crash of glass, followed by yelling. To our right were two men (who looked like bums) in front of someone's house. My guess is that they threw something at the window. (Walking faster now.) Before I knew it, there were 2 police cars pulled up in front of the house. An officer immediately got out of his car with his gun cocked telling one of the guys to get down on the ground. The other man had hurried off down the street in the direction Dylan and I were headed. (Walking even faster, moving to the other side of the road.) "Get down on the ground or I'll put a bullet in your head!", yelled the officer. (Holy shit, we're going to get shot). "Where did your friend go? Huh?! WHERE IS HE??" The guy, now on the ground, must have mumbled something about Dylan and I because the next thing I heard was the cop yelling, "Who? The guy and the girl?! The guy and the girl?!" We were the only "guy and girl" in sight, so, thanks bum, for pinning it on us. It was at this point that the 2nd police officer came running towards Dylan and me, but thankfully, this officer was not as hyped up as his partner. He asked us to stop and Dylan informed him that the other guy had sneaked into the parking lot to our immediate right and was wearing a red shirt. Within 2 minutes, the cop found and cuffed him.

Today at school, 1:20pm:
It was an early release day, so I reported to my post at the bus port. Arriving before everyone else, I opened the back gates. Daycare vans also pick up students in this area, and usually, they're not even really "vans", rather an SUV or personal car. A junky, red, 2-door Ford Explorer pulled up just as I was opening the gate. Not recognizing this vehicle as a regular, I went over to the window to ask who they were here to pick up. To my surprise, there were two, middle-aged white men with scruffy beards, overalls, and worn baseball caps, one driving and one in the back seat. I'm sorry, but they looked like total rednecks.

As I approached the window, they didn't roll it down, Instead there was this awkward interaction of me waiting for the window to roll down and them making some hand gestures I didn't understand. I decided to walk away and leave them be when the man in the back seat knocked on the window and held his Jacksonville Sherriff's Office badge up to the glass. Finally, the driver rolled down the window and said, "We just need to sit here for a minute and look like we're doing something. We need to look busy." It was then that I looked out to the main street and saw some men walking by each other. Drug deal, maybe. Then he said, "And what're you doing out here? You don't someone to take you off the street!" I explained we were about to start dismissal and left it at that. They departed a few minutes later.

Today at school, 1:35pm:
Still at the bus port, I looked over to the street again to see some 4th grade walkers on their way down the sidewalk just outside the fence of our school. Before I knew it, 2 of the students starting throwing punches and kneeing each other in the stomach. I dropped everything--my walkie, notebook, etc.--and ran over to the fence to break it up. Before I could get there, they took off running down the street. I guess they weren't hurt enough to be unable to run home.

Argh.

Boys

Yesterday, one of my 4th grade girls (let's call her Jada) came by to see me in the middle of the school day. I'm a little worried because these visits are becoming a habit. It all started2 weeks ago. This is the second year I've been teaching Jada, and I must note that she is one of my best students. I've never had any reason to reprimand her, no even for being too chatty. She had an outburst during class (after being provoked by another student) which involved her throwing a pencil across the room. I was very stern with her, mostly because I was shocked at her behavior, but also because she kept shrugging her shoulders when I'd ask her questions and then say, "I don't care". Grrrrr. Anyways, I kept her after class to discuss things one-on-one and she immediately burst into tears. Through her sobs, she explained that another student wouldn't leave her alone and was always making comments about her.

**Sidenote: Is there some psychological theory out there that explains the retarded-ness of the type of young boys who pick on girls to show affection? I know it all seems childish and simple, but even when I was Jada's age, I thought the whole I-like-you-so-I'm-going-to-make-your-life-miserable affection method was stupid. **

Anyways, we talked through the issue and got to the bottom of her out-of-character behavior. Progress. Since then, Jada has been coming to my room everytime someone is bothering her (hence the habit). When she showed up yesterday, she was wearing a jacket...a classmate's jacket...a boy classmate's jacket.

Oh my goodness, how the memories unfolded. I was immediately sucked back into the days of middle school when if a boy let you wear his sweatshirt or jacket, it meant he really liked you. (Well, that's how it was in my freakishly small private school.) I couldn't help but grin a little at the thought of such silliness. But it was a good silliness. And it intrigues me how seeing one of my girls wearing a boy's jacket triggered that particular memory which I haven't thought about in many, many years.