I See You

Your ninja skills are not as advanced as you may think, my young friend. You came to our LEGO club, and like all the other kids, you heard me say that each kid gets "one eatable and one drinkable" snack during club. I don't spend much time near the snack table, doling out food to you kids. I like to wander around the room, chat with you as you build, take pictures if you don't mind, etc. etc. I don't like to guard food.

I saw your trick; it was a good one. You put your first snack in your pocket and ate it, then when you got a second snack, you put it in the same pocket. I certainly wasn't paying attention to which snacks people had, so probably no one would notice if you were still eating snacks from your pocket. But I noticed.

I have eagle-eyes honed by years in a classroom, so I knew when you took a second snack, and a third and fourth, and then a second drink, and then a fifth snack. I saw you each time you walked oh-so-casually over to the refreshments and shoved another cellophane bag into your pocket.

You know what I also saw, though? I saw your eyes. You were not being a greedy kid. You were not trying to get away with something simply because I said no. Other kids were too busy building to care about a second snack. You, however, were too hungry to care about building.

I've seen that hungry look before, on my students when I was a teacher, and when I was a librarian, that look hounded a few kids who were honest with me: "Miss, I got here too late to get my free breakfast, and I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" For some kids, the meals at school were all they could depend upon.

I don't know if that's your situation; I didn't ask. But I saw the hungry look in your eyes and I chose to ignore the plastic rustling in your pocket, because maybe getting a second snack isn't fair, but being hungry isn't fair, either, and I can certainly afford to make sure there are extra snacks available for you, kid.

Maybe some day you'll know me well enough to tell me what's going on, or maybe not. Either way, though, I'll keep the snack tray stocked, and please, please eat what you need.