What Lurks Beneath

There is a thick blanket of foliage covering an incline-garden near the playground around my school. During recess the students often investigate what is under the mulch. Sometimes there are mushrooms or worms, sometimes just sticks and bark. Last week, the first graders discovered a hole, which seemed to go a long way into the earth beneath.

Small groups of children would gather around this mysterious burrow. When the crowd grew large, I suggested they go back to their games of jump-rope or tag. Soon another little group would come investigate the tunnel. Finally I asked José what he thought was down inside that hole.

He confidently replied: "Smurfs."

I must have not heard correctly. "Did you say 'Smurfs'?"

"Yes," he replied with a what-else-could-it-possibly-be sort of look ... then he scampered off to the tether ball area as I stood with this extraordinary vision of the world as seen through the eyes of a six-year old.