A Deck of Cards

A simple deck of cards in the hands of a creative problem solver can be dangerous. Sitting at a round blue table in the preverbal school cafeteria, sat a group of precocious young boys who love food. Imagine that! Well, it was the food that was the driving force behind "The Deck of "Cards." From the corner of my eye, I see one of the boys holding a "hand", filtering through it like a pro. Hmm... I wonder why he has cards in his hand, but before I could finishing processing that thought,I was distracted with a question from another student, and then I had to run a quick errand to the classroom. When I settled back onto MY hard round cylindrical seat at MY blue round table...I was distracted again. By this time, I have totally forgotten about those cards until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see the school janitor and he was handing me a deck of cards. Oh, ya, those deck of cards. I suddenly remembered my original thought. He graciously sat on a round seat beside me and began to tell me a story. I listened patiently and with concern as he explained to me how the boys were dealing those cards to each other, with the winning pot being donated food from their lunch boxes and their cafeteria trays. He went onto explain how gambling was wrong. I comforted him by offering assurance that I would take care of it. Before returning back to his duties, he handed me the contraband. A pathetic, weathered, torn box of playing cards. I gazed in the direction of the guilty. Our eyes met. Defenses were ready. "OK, boys..." I said. But before I could start my lecture, they blurted out their excuses, their denials, and started finger pointing. "It wasn't me!" "The cards are his!" "We weren't gambling! It was just food!" They caved...too soon. The supplier of the contraband spoke up softly and confessed.b "Those are my cards." I guess he didn't want to see his friends suffer the consequence because of the influence he had
over them. Needless to say, i finished my mini lecture on gambling and offered up a stern
warning to head off any future ideas, and then turned and walked away...with a deck cards in
hand. They didn't see it, but I had smile on my face.

I so love to teach.