Yeah, I..."lost"...it

Today, while riding past us on a scooter, a kid yelled out, "Hey Mark, where's your backpack?"

Mark glanced down at his plastic box, then at me and stammered nervously, "Uh...." I could tell he didn't want to tell the story, which did not exactly place him in a good light.

But the kid didn't even slow down long enough to listen. He passed Mark by and said, "You lost it, huh?"

Mark seized the excuse for all he was worth.

"Yep!" he called out happily. "I lost my backpack!" He'd never been so proud to lose something.

Then he grinned at me, daring me to call him out on it. Instead, I mimicked him and squeaked out, "Yeah, I lost my backpack. Silly me!"

We both cracked up. I wasn't gonna rat him out anymore than he was gonna rat himself out.

"Try not to lose anything else today!" I called out as he crossed the street. He turned and shook his fist at me, laughing, and I laughed in return.

Hey, at least we can laugh about his plastic box now, which is more than I can say for the day he got it!