Ben asked for permission to go down to the school in our neighborhood today (Sunday), and play by himself at the playground. I told him he could, but I wanted him back quickly.

Well... he did come home quickly, and when he came in, he told me the following story.

He said that a man came up who had a key to the school, and the man asked him if he wanted to go inside the school. He knew he shouldn't, because it wasn't safe, and so he came right home and told me. This is not only a close shave because it was a fishy situation; it was a close shave because Ben is quite obsessed, right now, with going inside the neighborhood school and church. He came home and told me about it because he knew that doing it by himself wasn't safe; he wanted me to go right down with him and take him in the school while the man still had the school open!

I can think of only one honest explanation for the situation, and several nasty ones. The only honest one I can think of is that the man was a janitor who came up, opened the door, saw Ben's longing look (or perhaps Ben even TALKED to him), and invited him inside just to be nice. That's possible ... barely.

I guess all those readings of 'The Berenstain Bears: the Trouble with Strangers' made an impression. I always wondered how Ben would react in a situation like this -- where one of his obsessions was at odds with his personal safety. It seems he has a sense of self-preservation after all, thank God.

-- CarolynJohnston - 30 Jan 2006

Back to: Main Page.