Tuesday, December 16, 2008

So, Where Do You Shop? I Shop at the Mall in the Lost and Found Bin

One of my boys cracked me up today, and I have to share. First, an explanation of the kiddo is needed. You know the guy on the show "Lost".... the really big, insanely-afro-hair-looking, white dude? Yeah, well, I have a kid like that in my room. He looks exactly the same as that dude, just he's biracial. He fits the name of the show in which he looks like he comes from, too. "Lost" is the perfect word to describe him.

So, this morning, he comes in proudly clutching a Superman lunchbox with all of his goodies neatly tucked inside thrown in every which way. He was proud as a peacock to be carrying that lunchbox. After he sits down, unpacks, and gets ready for the day, he comes up to show me his new digs... "Look, I have a Superman lunchbox!" "Oh, cool, where did you get that from?" "Well, I saw it in the "Lost and found" in the cafeteria, and picked it up since I needed my lunchbox". Thinking that it was HIS lunchbox, I told him I was glad he found it, and told him to go work on his morning work. He went on his merry way, and I thought that was the end of the whole "lost and found" business.

Fast forward to lunch..... I had lunch duty today, so I was sitting in the cafeteria the whole time. The same kiddo came up to me 5 minutes after lunch started, his soup all over his face, shirt, pants, and shoes (no kidding), and asked me if he can go somewhere. I asked where he needed to go, and he told me to the lost and found box. I told him that he needed to go sit and finish his lunch, then wipe off his entire being so he wasn't drenched in vegetable soup. He went and sat down, and I saw him up like 5 minutes later... can you guess where he was?? Nope, it wouldn't be the LOST AND FOUND BOX. Then, I decided to stroll over and see what he was up to, and tell him to sit back down. He looks at me excitedly and goes "Oh, man, look I have 4 hats... one for me, my mom, my grandma, and my sister". I asked him how he had lost all of those hats at school, and he looked at me kinda stunned. I proceeded to ask if those were his original hats that he had lost throughout the year so far. His reply "Ummmm, well, no". So I ask why he has them. I get "Well, because they are in the lost and found, and when you lose something, people put the lost stuff in the box so other people can go and found it". I politely explained to him that the lost and found wasn't meant to be a shopping spree. It is for items that students have lost to be placed so they can go look there, and try to find items that they have lost. He looked at me sort of perplexed, and didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to use the lost and found as a mall type of deal, but I told him that unless something started out as being his, he had lost it, and it was in the box, he wasn't allowed to take anything out of the box. He tried his next trick, and asked if it would be ok to go and get a hat if "on days like this, and it's raining, and your mother forgets to give you a hat and your hair is all wet and poofy, can you go to the lost and found and found a hat?" I told him no, once again, and thought it was over. Being a pretty sentimental kid, he looked kinda depressed, and then his final reply was "But, that doesn't make me a feef (thief) does it?"

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