"Officer E!" the little boy, a second grader, called. He waved his hand in the air amid the chatter of the classroom.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"I need to whisper something to you."
So Officer E, as he's known around his new school, headed to the boy's desk and leaned in, ready to hear his secret. But another kid made a show of eavesdropping, so the whispering would have to wait.
"I know," said Officer E. "Why don't you come up here and help me?"
The boy went to the front of the class to hold some visual aids for the day's lesson, reminding Officer E that backup now comes not in screaming sirens but small friendships.
After a while the class, distracted with other tasks, forgot about the boy and his whisper. Officer E leaned down to hear what his young friend needed to say. The boy cupped his hand around his mouth and pressed it to the policeman's ear.
"My dad's in jail," the child said quietly, then paused. "If you see him, will you say hi to him?"
Noah, Officer E, set his hand on the boy's shoulder, patted it gently.
"Sure, buddy. Of course I will."
They didn't cover this in Academy.
14 comments:
Ouch.
Great post--glad Noah was there.
Oh! That's a tearjerker. I second Slamdunk. Great post and I'm glad Noah was there too.
Man...I actually got a little teary-eyed. That's one of the many reasons Noah is awesome.
I'm crying like a baby. Thank you Noah! For being the kind of officer the little boy would trust enought to ask and for handling it so well.
So humbling...
Wow, I bet Noah will never forget that. If he ever does, remind him.
What Ben G said.
A reminder that every person we take into custody has a story hovering in the background. I'm glad Noah got to open up some of those hidden pages.
Beautifully written.
Argh a bit teary. Poor kid. Looks like Officer E's in the right job :D
My heart goes out to that little boy, and I am thankful he trusted your Noah enough to open up to him.
Sigh - sometimes it's so hard to hear the stories. Glad Noah was there for him.
My mom teaches kindergarten and she has so many stories like this. It's heartbreaking but I'm glad they have Officer E.
OK, sniffling madly now, and it has nothing to do with allergies, colds or flu. Noah is SO right for that job.
LauraL
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