There and Back Again

Ball left in the car for a few days Two Fridays ago, my son suddenly wanted to buy a ball. He is a cunning boy - he asked his mother instead of me. My wife bought the ball from the bookshop, pasted a sticker with his name on it, told him about the sticker, and then reminded him to be careful with the ball. The ball is not very expensive but we hope to inculcate ownership and care of his belongings. The case of the useless ball happened when I picked him up next Monday. Unlike most other Mondays, my wife happened to be on leave and we went to school together to pick him up. When we saw him, we could sense that something had happened. He told us that his ball was missing - some boy from the next class took the ball and it was gone. He looked quite flustered. We went to the General Office to try our luck in the lost-and-found. There was no sign of the ball and the office clerk told us to go the cages containing the school-owned balls to look for it. I was rather sceptical tha...

Lucas and his seldom worn Liverpool FC football jersey One day, my mum spoke to me about my son and his adventures in the field just below my mother's house. Usually after my son finishes with his student care, he goes to my mother's house. He started to 'play' football with the kids downstairs. In reality, he is really more of a cheerleader who happens to stand in the field. I am also glad the older boys tolerate the presence of the young ones (there is another younger boy whose 'position' is similar to his). According to my mum, there was one incident when an older boy got angry with the younger boy. Apparently, he was running towards him, and looked like he was going to hit the younger boy. My son, who was nearby, apparently reacted to this by saying something to the older boy. That drew the ire of the older boy who went after my son instead. Fortunately my mum reacted quick enough with a shout and the older boy only shoved my son lightly. However, my...