I’ve got one kid cleaning his room, just peeled another off the window, and the third, well, she just wants to dance. And this is a slow day on the inpatient unit for children and adolescents. Not enough teens and too many tots, means I’m working the child side with the beauty queen. I don’t know if she’s really a beauty queen, but she looks the part, has the plastered smile.

But she’s got the well-behaved ones down in the cafeteria, so I’m all alone. But I have it covered. These kids come from broken homes, have suffered abuse or were born a little genetically short-changed. That’s okay. I’ve got it covered, man. Look at me go, connecting with them on their level, making life a little okay for just one day.

The beauty queen comes into the day room, the smile no longer plastered. What is she saying? Planes hit buildings? On purpose? Dead. Death. Destruction. What does this mean? Everyone on board? Oh my word, the buildings too? This can’t be happening.

Man, I don’t know jack.