Nice kids. Just ordinary, tremendous, nice kids.

This morning I needed a stop at the gas station for straight sugar.  I was off. It's been raining in Eastern Iowa for about 18 years now and on top of that I slept like shit last night, staring at the walls for a couple hours in the middle of the night. After dropping Sonia off at work I headed down for the local BP. Giri's BP. Two gas stations in West Liberty and that's the one I picked.

As I went in so did two young women from my school. I said hi and they said hi back. In Spanish even! After wandering I decided on some Hostess cupcakes and a Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pocket for lunch. I paid the bill--four dollars and something, collected the coins of my change, and left for school.

The whole day passed. Trip to BP forgotten. After lunch duty I headed for 7th period. We're talking 1:30 in the afternoon at this point. As I entered the classroom the first thing I saw was a five dollar bill in my face. Then I heard voices. Practically shrieking! They said, "Mr. Plum, you left your change at the BP! This is your money!"

I sorted it out. Apparently, I had paid with a ten at 7:30 in the morning and forgotten to take my five dollar bill. The cashier asked the girls if it belonged to them and they said, No, it must be my teacher's. He's your teacher, the cashier asked, suspicious. Yes! Absolutely! they said. I'll take it to him at school. Six hours later, the goods were delivered. Mission accomplished. Thanks, I said. I've always said the nicest kids live in West Liberty, I said.

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There's whole lotta shit out there right now. In fact, I have to consciously make an effort to keep the shit out of my life. And there's a whole lotta people who disparage the youth of today. Oddly enough, many of these people don't spend a lot of time with the youth of today, and if they do, they compare them with a mythical version of the youth of a generation or two ago. Well, I was in that generation, and I will tell you, we were most definitely NOT any better than the youth of today. I won't say we were worse--although I kind of think we were--but we definitely weren't any better.

What I'm trying to say, y'all, is that the kids are all right. There as all right as they've ever been. If you have any doubt, leave a five dollar bill at your local gas station with some kids you know around. I can't guarantee they'll get it back to you. But if I had to bet, I'd damn sure put my money on them.

--Mark