Sharp End of the Stick

(coloring with some of the kids, Patience is on the left)

The amount of kids who flow in out of the house I live in is impossible to count. Just when you think you got a firm grasp of who actually sleeps there, another one joins the bunch and one disappears. Neighborhood kids are particularly habitual about coming over to stare at me. One day as I was sitting on the couch a little girl, Patience, came up and sat right next to me. Continuing to read, no longer was an option. So I pulled out some paper and we began to color. She was attempting to use a pencil that was determined to remain unusable. I remember I had a pack of brightly colored unused pencils sitting in my bag that my coworkers so lovingly gave to me. I went into my room and grabbed a nice purple one and brought it out. However, Patience is quicker than me, while I was gone she had run home and returned a few minutes later with a brand new, plastic razor blade wrapped in paper and sent from Japan. Seeing my new pencil, she opened up the package and handed the razor to me. I had to admit, I had no idea how to use it. So she grabbed it, sharpened her own pencil and went back to drawing. I picked up the sharpener, and mimicking the 7 year old’s actions, sharpened my very own pencil by hand for the first time. Satisfied with my slow handy work, I carved a “P” on the side of the pencil and gave it to Patience for teaching me how to sharpen a pencil at the age of 25.